Social Security Administration will stop mail checks
The Social Security Administration says leaving paper checks will improve efficiency and reduce the risk of theft and delays.
Scripps News
For some Social Security Beneficiaries, benefit checks could arrive in lesser amounts in the coming months. Meanwhile, others may have recently hit their interests.
The Social Security Administration said in April it will begin sending notifications to recipients who have been overpaid in the past. After sending an overpayment notice, the SSA will allow 90 days for recipients to seek a waiver or a lower repayment rate. The agent will then begin withholding 50% of the recipient’s profit until the overpayment is repaid (early on or after July 24th).
Some beneficiaries will receive payments on July 23, but according to the SSA payment calendar, the next payment date that follows will be reduced to August 1.
However, other recipients may have seen an increase in profits. That’s because the Social Security Equality Act has begun for public sector workers who have lost profits in the past. As of July 7, the SSA said it had processed more than 3.1 million payments to those entitled to retroactive payment adjustments.
Social Security Bureau takes action against overpayment
Some overpaid Social Security beneficiaries could cut their monthly profits by half from late July. For example, overpayments can occur if an SSA miscalculates individual benefits or the beneficiary fails to update changes in income.
Inappropriate payments account for less than 1% of almost $8.6 trillion in benefits paid between 2015 and 2022. Of the nearly $72 billion inappropriate payments during that time, Social Security had collected all but $23 billion as of September 2023.
Some public sector workers believe payments are being boosted
The SSA also began to begin paying retroactive Social Security Equity Act to public sector workers who failed to obtain Social Security in February or were unable to reduce benefits because their past work was not covered by Social Security Tax, according to the SSA. The affected recipients included police officers, firefighters, postal workers and public school teachers.
The SSA paid these beneficiaries about $17 billion. Earlier this year, the agency said the average retroactive payment amounted to $6,710.
Because SSA will benefit the following month due, some recipients may see changes to benefits at their August 2025 payments, the agency said. Since the act became law on January 5, 2025, the institution has received more than 278,000 new claims from people with non-Social Security pensions, and has processed 92% of these, the SSA said.
For some of those who filed new claims after January 5, 2025, the SSA “may still be working on processing your application,” the agency said on July 10.
If you believe you qualify for Social Security Equality Act benefits adjustments, you can file a claim at www.ssa.gov/apply.
If Social Security overpays you, how will you pay it back?
If you receive a notification from SSA that you have been overpaid, you can repay the overpaid amount by credit card, online bill payment, or by check. For more information on repayment of overpayment benefits, please visit the SSA website.
You can also use the form on the SSA website to request a waiver to avoid repaying your overpayment if you think it’s not your fault or if you can’t afford to repay it (or thinks it’s unfair for other reasons).
Mike Snyder is a reporter for the trending team at USA Today. You can follow him in the thread, send BlueSky, X with X and send him an email Bliss & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider &msnider@usatoday.com
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