Woman’s Social Security Slashed Over Dead Brother’s Overpayment

A senior living on Social Security was flabbergasted when the Social Security Administration said it would be cutting her benefits because of an error on her brother’s payments.

Social Security has been known to cut down checks or remove benefits altogether in the case of an overpayment error.

But for Everlon Moulton, who lives in Maryland, the mistake was on her brother’s payments, not her own. Despite this, she has seen all her monthly retirement benefits withheld.

“They caught their mistake and tried to collect the money, but he had passed,” Moulton told local station WMAR.

Moulton’s brother died in 2006 after Moulton became his financial representative.

“He just couldn’t manage his money. And my mother being his payee, when she passed, there was no one else there to do it but me,” said Moulton, who now faces a significant hit to her retirement benefits.

Congress allows the Social Security Administration to take back Supplemental Security Income overpayments from the person’s payee. Despite Moulton never having used the money, $233 will be subtracted from her monthly checks.

“Not my fault. I don’t work for Social Security,” Moulton exclaimed. “This is my money I earned. I worked for 30 some years in Baltimore City Schools, and this is my money.”

The SSA previously reported that there’s $23 billion in overpayments that haven’t been paid back, and it’s estimated that roughly 1 million people receive overpayment alerts every year.

“This is sad, because it’s happening to other people, and they need to let you know, and someone needs…who holds them responsible? Somebody needs to get on the government,” Moulton said.

Moulton has tried to appeal the SSA’s decision, filling out forms and calling the agency. She has been told the overpayment will be paused until a final decision is made in 30 to 60 days.

“I would tell them that when they discover they’ve made a mistake, eat it. That’s what I would tell them, eat it. Because it’s not fair. I mean, this is not your money you’re playing with, it’s our money,” Moulton said.

The SSA originally delayed its overpayment alert because they had the wrong mailing address on file.

Because of situations like Moulton’s, experts recommend checking your Social Security check amount and making sure it matches what you are entitled to each month. That way you can alert the SSA to an overpayment before they demand the money back or cut off your payments.

“Statistically speaking, overpayments according to the SSA’s calculations are rare, and they’re increasingly doing a better job of spotting these errors and attempting to correct them,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the state of Tennessee, told Newsweek. “The problem is in situations like this one.”

In a typical situation, the SSA demands back money from the person who was overpaid. But asking for the money back from a relative often seems unfair, Beene said. Typically, an appeal is your only way forward.

“Contact them and stay consistent in following up with them, as well,” Beene said. “It’s the follow-up that’s key….The reality sadly is most of these situations do not get resolved unless the person seeing the deduction has a coordinated plan to contact, meet and follow up with them in the hopes of getting these overpayments overturned.”

Michael Ryan, a finance expert who runs michaelryanmoney.com, said this case of asking for money back from relatives of those who received overpayments reveals a widespread problem across America.

“The impacts of having to repay overpayments can be severe for many, especially those already struggling financially,” Ryan told Newsweek. “Suddenly facing a reduction in benefits can mean inability to pay basic expenses like housing, food and utilities. For low-income or disabled Americans heavily reliant on their Social Security checks, this can be devastating.”

The SSA will likely always face some level of overpayments within the system, but many have called for congressional oversight to prevent this from taking place at its current scale. Others say the SSA should be prevented from demanding any of its overpayment money back.

“The SSA is trying to collect an overpayment due that was paid to her deceased brother more than 10 years ago,” Kevin Thompson, a financial planner and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek.

“They have been deducting payments from her regularly scheduled amounts monthly. This is truly a farce and needs to be addressed through congressional action. Due to the SSA being severely understaffed and lacking technological resources that would make them much more efficient, they continue to have issues and come after those that can least afford it.”

Today, the only way you can prevent this from happening is to monitor your payments and keep on top of the SSA’s checks monthly.

“This impacts the ones that can least likely afford a change in their SS payments, as per usual in our country, those on a strict fixed income,” Thompson said.

Newsweek reached out to the SSA for comment.