You are disabled, advanced in age, and owe $61,426.60 to Social Security due to a mistake that you do not understand, and money that you don’t have, and have no money for representation, what do you do? Get help from Seattle Community Law Center.
Our Mission
Social Security advocacy for people with disabilities who are homeless or low-income.
SCLC provides accessible legal advocacy to people living with physical and mental disabilities so that they may obtain the resources necessary to overcome barriers to financial and medical stability. We further our mission through targeted advocacy projects that help people with Social Security disability problems.
Bob (not his real name) was incredibly stressed, scared and it was having serious adverse effects on his health. He received notice from the Social Security Administration that they had over paid him $61,426.60 and they wanted their money back, please send payment immediately. Social Security was now his only income, and it was only hundreds of dollars a month. How could they have over paid him so much and what was he going to do for food and a place to live if they took away his Social Security? He called the Social Security office and they told him, “you owe this, there is nothing we can do. You can fill out an appeal supported by your work, health and payment records for the past several years and we will review this, but you owe the money.”
Have you ever had to deal with the bureaucracy of Social Security? While Social Security is great benefit designed to assist our aged and disabled population, even the most focused person will be challenged with the paperwork, rules, and required documentation. When you are reliant on a service for your most basic food, shelter, and medical needs and someone tells you that it is going to be taken away, it is overwhelming. Add to this a huge system loaded with paperwork, antiquated systems, and processes that produce a great number of errors and the stress often becomes frightening, and unbearable.
Bob had previously tried three times on his own to appeal/get a waiver for the overpayment. The reason for the overpayment was very unclear, the forms confusing and the threat of losing everything was real. He sought out help but could not afford representation, he did not know what to do, and he felt like he was indeed losing everything. That was when he was referred to Seattle Community Law Center.
After years of working closely with the SSA Office and his efforts to correct the record, it turned out that the overpayment was a data error in SSA’s system. The SSA representative asserted that the overpayment was due to a “mis-keyed” entry in the system. It took months of work from a Seattle Community Law Center attorney specializing in Social Security regulations and requirements to file the needed documents and demands to uncover this error.
The SSA representative had the payment center correct the issue. In the end, it resulted in client being entitled to back pay of $3,000. This accounts for benefits SSA had collected in recovery over the years.
However, another wrinkle occurred. At first it was unexplained, but after consultation with SSA representative, it turned out that when SSA released the $3,000 back pay Bob was entitled to, it released an additional 12,000. This resulted in another overpayment (correct this time) of $12,000.
Bob is advanced in age and now has the support for food, a safe place to sleep, and health care. And he has the stability and support of Seattle Community Law Center.
This is one of hundreds of extremely challenging experiences that the clients of Seattle Community Law Center deal with every year. While it is wonderful that we can serve hundreds of clients each year there are thousands in our community that need support, and we have to turn away due to lack of resources. Most we do not have a place to refer then to for the help they need to acquire their support provided by law. Please help by giving tax deductible donations to Seattle Community Law Center at https://benefitslawcenter.org/support-sclc/donate/
For questions or to find out how you can help please call Randy Dahl at 206-686-7252
SSI & SSDI Advocacy for People With Disabilities Who are Homeless or Low-income
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