Social Security Disability overpayment what are my options?

Q: Social Security Disability Overpayment - What Are My Options?

An overpayment received from your social security disability signifies that you received more in your monthly check than you were expecting to receive, or more money than you normally receive during a given month. There could be many reasons for receiving an overpayment, including situations like the following:

• Change of living situation
• Change of marital status
• More resources than the allowed limit
• No longer disabled and continue to receive checks
• No changes were reported to the social security office
• Changes were not reported on time to the social security office
• Incorrect check amount because of incorrect information given

A: You have a few options to choose from, depending on your situation.

Normally, when someone receives overpayment, the social security disability office will send a notice to the individual in the mail, notifying them that they are aware of the overpayment. In this notice, the social security disability office will ask the individual for a reimbursement for the difference of their overpayment. If the individual does not comply with the notice, the social security disability office can:

• Withold a percentage of the overpayment during the next month's check, or withold the entire overpayment amount during the next check
• Tell you which month they will withold the overpayment
• Explain your rights to appeal if you don't believe you were overpaid
• Explain how you can try appeal or waive the overpayment

If you do choose to appeal the overpayment notice, you have 10 days from the date you received the notice to do so. Especially if you are not sure what caused the overpayment, or if you feel the overpayment was not your fault, you can file to get it waved or appealed to free you from being penalized for a mistake you did not make.