The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced that it will return to its previous policy of a 100% overpayment recovery rate. In other words, if SSA discovers that a Social Security beneficiary has been overpaid, it will retain 100% of the beneficiary’s monthly Social Security check each month until the overpayment is paid in full.

The 100% withholding rate policy will apply to new overpayments after March 27, 2025. It will not affect individuals with current overpayments or those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, a needs-based program for low-income aged and disabled individuals. Those individuals will continue to have 10% of their benefits withheld monthly and applied to the existing overpayment until it is completely repaid.

Last year, amidst a public outcry over the previous SSA policy of withholding 100% of a person’s benefits to apply to overpayments, the agency changed its policy. Under the new policy, the SSA began withholding only 10% of individuals’ benefits to repay overpayments. Now, the SSA has reverted to its previous policy, allowing it to recover overpayments more quickly. Federal law requires the SSA to recover overpayments from individuals who have received them but does not specify a recovery withholding rate amount.

The SSA will notify beneficiaries with new overpayments that 100% of their monthly benefits will be withheld and credited toward the overpayments. If individuals cannot afford a 100% recovery withholding rate, they can contact the SSA to ask for an alternative repayment plan. To request a different repayment plan, individuals can submit Form SSA-634—Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate.

The policy change does not affect the ability of a beneficiary to appeal a notice of overpayment if they don’t believe that they owe the overpayment amount or the overpayment in general. Individuals generally have 30 days to appeal their overpayment notice. The SSA will not pursue collection of the overpayment while a timely-filed appeal, also known as a request for reconsideration, is pending. Individuals can appeal the overpayment by following the directions on their notice of overpayment or filing an appeal online at the following link: Non-Medical Appeal, Social Security.

Furthermore, individuals can ask for a waiver of their overpayments if they believe that they were not at fault for the overpayment and cannot afford to repay it. The SSA will not pursue collecting the overpayment while a timely filed application for waiver of overpayment is pending. Individuals can submit Form SSA-632-BK—Request for Waiver of Overpayment Recovery to request a waiver of overpayment.

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