A PENSIONER said she was told to pay back over $88,000 in Social Security payments after her husband’s death.
Diane O’Brien, from Chicago, Illinois, was informed that she had received welfare over-payments but argued she should not have to pay that back.
O’Brien’s husband Kevin died in 2016 and his Social Security payments had been passed on to her.
She showed a letter from 2016 that stated she was entitled “to a monthly widow’s benefits beginning February 2016,” according to CBS affiliate WBBM.
“You are also entitled to a Social Security payment of $255 because of the death of KEVIN OBRIEN,” the letter continued.
She said this money had allowed her to retire from her job as a school clerk but the monthly payments abruptly ended in 2018.
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O’Brien then received a letter that said she owed the Social Security Administration $88,384.90 as she had been receiving her husband’s payments and her government pension.
The pensioner said she was unaware of the rules that did not allow her to collect both payments.
She argued that she should not be responsible for the overpayments.
“It changed my whole life and I shouldn’t have to pay back that money,” she said.
Financial Analyst Terry Savage told WBBM that she thought the SSA should not ask pensioners to give back overpayments.
“Let them suffer for their mistakes, not older people who cannot afford to repay these mistakes,” she said.
The U.S. Sun has previously reported on other Social Security recipients who received shock letters that asked for thousands of dollars back.
Kat Conner and Jim Lehfeldt from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, were told they owed the SSA $81,000.
A letter dated July 2023 told the couple that the administration had incorrectly paid them for four years.
“Basically what it says is that they overpaid me a little bit over $81,000,” Conner told WPTV.
“We were like what do we do?” Lehfeldt added.
They were also told their monthly disability and retirement payments would be held until the money was given back.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Social Security Administration for comment.