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Leanne Grover, EBS for Barron County, worked with a client who had received a letter from Social Security in March requesting verification of employment for the previous three years. Leanne helped the client submit all of her wage documentation within a week after receiving the letter but, in August, the client received another letter saying she was ineligible for SSDI payments for several months during the review time frame. Leanne submitted the relevant paystubs again, only to receive an overpayment notice in September totaling more than $19,000. Leanne helped the client submit a reconsideration request and included sections from the POMS clarifying that vacation and sick time should not be counted toward earned wages. Upon reconsideration, SSA determined that there was no overpayment and that SSDI payments would be reinstated.
Monetary Impact = $19,000
10/31/2023
Story #123
Mary Velcich, EBS in Green County, helped a client successfully appeal part of an overpayment of over $5600. The client retired mid-year and began receiving early Social Security Retirement benefits that month. In addition to her final paycheck, the client received a large payout for her unused sick days. Mary determined that SSA used the yearly earnings test to determine that the client had been overpaid for the entire year. However, because the client was only retired for part of the year, SSA should have used the monthly earnings test, which meant that the client was only overpaid in the month she retired. Mary helped the client obtain records from her employer about her last paycheck and unused sick days and submitted a reconsideration to SSA. SSA agreed, and the client was relieved that she didn't have to repay the entire overpayment amount.
Monetary Impact = $5,600
9/29/2023
Story #115
Ellen Venne, EBS of Adams County, helped a client get an SSI Overpayment waived. The client, who suffered from mental health issues and confusion related to medication side effects, did not understand when SSA called him and told him he needed to start paying $200 per month. SSA had made a mistake when paying him SSI benefits (they failed to consider his wife's Social Security Retirement Income), and then assessed an overpayment of nearly $14,000. Ellen helped the client request a waiver, and in less than two months, the entire overpayment was waived.
Monetary Impact = $14,000
9/29/2023
Story #111
Mindy Shrader, EBS in Sauk County, showed incredible patience in getting two cases resolved successfully. In the first case, Mindy helped a client request a waiver of a nearly $7,000 Social Security overpayment in early September 2020. Despite the fact that Mindy regularly checked in on the case, SSA apparently lost the waiver request until June of this year, when they sent a letter to the client requesting updated financial information. Mindy helped the client provide updated information about her income and expenses and attached that to a copy of the original waiver request, and SSA finally approved the waiver request!
Monetary Impact = $7,000
8/31/2023
Story #106
Terri Esselman, EBS of Clark County, helped a client negotiate a $10 per month repayment plan with SSA for an SSI overpayment. The client was incarcerated, and had incurred an SSI overpayment totaling over $2,000. The client did not deny that he was overpaid, and did not want to request a reconsideration or waiver. Instead, he just wanted to reduce his monthly repayment amount so SSA would not take his full checks. At first, SSA told the client the lowest amount they could accept was what could be repaid over 12 months, then they said 36 months. However, Terri was able to use the POMS rule that a person receiving LIS (Part D Low Income Subsidy) qualifies for a repayment amount as low as $10 per month. After educating SSA about this policy, he was granted this repayment amount and can now pay it off slowly over time as he re-enters the community post-incarceration.
8/31/2023
Story #104
Gail Sauerman also achieved a favorable result for a client with an SSI overpayment that went all the way to an ALJ hearing. The client had a large SSI overpayment that was mainly due to real property that she shared with her ex-husband. We were able to prove that because he refused to sell the property, then it should not be counted as an available resource. However, SSA still assessed an overpayment for three months due to being over resources from multiple vehicles. Gail worked meticulously with the client to provide a timeline of when the vehicles were owned, sold, inoperable, and junked. She obtained pictures of the vehicles and ledgers from the scrap dealer. The ALJ accepted the additional information Gail gathered and issued a favorable decision, which eliminated the remaining $1,119 of the overpayment.
Monetary Impact = $1,119
8/30/2023
Story #103
Kenton Zink, EBS for Dane County, helped a client reduce an SSI overpayment of more than $12,000 to around $900 by demonstrating to the Social Security Administration (SSA) that the client was over the SSI asset limit due to COVID-19 stimulus payments. He then helped the client understand options for spending down assets and provided SSA with updated bank statements and a receipt showing that she had used her remaining assets to prepay rent. He got the issue resolved within a week, and the client's benefit payments resumed without missing a month. With SSI being her only source of income, the client was greatly relieved to have that problem resolved so quickly.
Monetary Impact = $11,100
6/29/2023
Story #93
Kris Schiek, EBS in Oneida County, helped a client successfully appeal an SSI overpayment of over $14,000. Kris helped the client obtain bank statements dating back to 2020 to show that SSA incorrectly counted his COVID-19 stimulus payments as available resources. Kris's supervising attorney created a table to show how the stimulus checks kept accumulating and, because they are excluded resources, he should not have been assessed an overpayment for not spending them down. SSA agreed, and issued a favorable decision in less than two months.
Monetary Impact = $14,000
6/29/2023
Story #91
Pam Fuchs, EBS in Sauk County, helped a client successfully appeal an SSDI overpayment in a case that took nearly two years to resolve. The client was injured while working in another state many years ago and received worker's compensation (WC) after that. She later moved to Wisconsin and applied for SSDI benefits after her WC payments had ended. SSA sent a letter to her representative payee asking for information about the WC payments, but the representative payee had significant medical issues and was unable to respond to that letter. As a result, SSA assumed the client was receiving WC payments and SSDI benefits at the same time without any offset calculated. Because the overpayment notice was so vague, Pam helped the client request reconsideration because SSA had not provided enough information for us to evaluate whether an overpayment had actually occurred. SSA responded by asking for records of the client's WC payments. Pam tried to track down the records, but the client's former employer, medical providers, and WC attorney no longer had any records. She was finally able to obtain records from the state where the work injury occurred, which showed that the client had not been receiving any WC payments at the time she applied for SSDI. SSA agreed, and not only did the client no longer have an overpayment issue, but SSA actually owed her some money!
6/29/2023
Story #89
Melissa Chase, EBS in Fond du Lac County, recently helped a 72-year-old client with an SSI termination and pending overpayment. SSA continued to count this client's COVID-19 stimulus payments as a resource, and they also counted an extra vehicle that the client did not actually own. Melissa worked with the client and SSA for months to try to get this issue resolved. Finally, Melissa helped the client appeal and send in a statement regarding these issues. One week later, the client received backpay of almost $3,500 and her SSI payments resumed.
Monetary Impact = $3,500
6/29/2023
Story #86
Amanda Runge, EBS in Winnebago County, recently received a fully favorable decision for a client with an SSDI overpayment of over $114,000. The client, a 61-year-old man, had worked for many years for a friend. SSA alleged that this client had gone over the monthly substantial gainful activity (SGA) amount with his earnings for several years. However, this client's friend/boss had provided him with a lot of extra accommodations and even paid him for days in which he did not work. Amanda helped the client gather evidence of this, along with paystubs and a letter from his former boss, to send in with the appeal. The appeal was fully favorable, and the client no longer owes an SSDI overpayment.
Monetary Impact = $114,000
6/29/2023
Story #85
Jennifer Trasser, EBS in Outagamie County, recently helped a 64-year-old client get an SSI overpayment waived. The client had received annual rental payments in January every year, and he used this income to pay his property taxes. He thought that SSA understood that this was a recurring payment every January, so he didn't need to report it each year. However, he was still issued SSI benefits and was determined to have had an overpayment for the month of January spanning four years. Jennifer helped the client submit a waiver request. She then attended the personal conference with the client to provide support and assistance. A few weeks later, the client received notice that his overpayment was waived.
6/29/2023
Story #81
A client received notice for forecloseure due to unpaid property taxes. We successfully avoided a sheriff's sale by receiving $10,400 from WI Help for Homeowners program. While working together determined she was also eligible for SSRI which will drastically increase her monthly income and allow her to set up a payment plan for future tax bills.
Monetary Impact = $10,400
8/9/2023
Story #80
Pam Fuchs, EBS in Sauk County, recently helped a client with an administrative waiver of an SSI overpayment. SSA had actually stopped the client's benefits because they believed she was over the resource limit, but Pam helped the client send up-to-date bank statements to SSA showing that she was under the resource limit, and SSA reinstated her benefits. Although the client had overpayments waived in the past, her medical conditions made it difficult for her to manage her finances, and she no longer had the same support network helping her as she had in the past. Pam helped the client fill out the paperwork to request a waiver, and SSA agreed to waive the overpayment.
5/31/2023
Story #76
Mindy Shrader, EBS in Sauk County, helped a client with a successful reconsideration of an SSI overpayment. The client received an overpayment notice in April 2023 alleging that she had been overpaid in an earlier month and in May 2023, which stopped her benefits as of May 1. Mindy determined that the earlier month's overpayment was due to the fact that the client's MCO had not deducted that month's CBRF room and board payment from her account. Mindy obtained a letter explaining the situation from the MCO and argued to SSA that this was similar to a situation where a beneficiary is only over the resource limit because the landlord did not cash a rent check before the first of the following month. SSA agreed with this and determined the client had not been overpaid in that month. Mindy also provided bank statements to show that the client had remained under the resource limit but was obviously unable to obtain a May bank statement in April when the reconsideration was filed. Unfortunately, SSA continued to insist that the client was ineligible for benefits in May. Thankfully, Mindy was able to obtain a bank statement with the client's May 1 balance after May 1, and SSA finally agreed to reinstate the client's benefits.
5/3/2023
Story #75
Emily Reuter, EBS in Grant County, recently helped a client with a successful reconsideration of an SSI overpayment. SSA believed that the client was over the SSI resource limit because she and her spouse owned a number of tools that had previously been exempt business assets when the spouse was working. Emily worked with the client to figure out an approximate resale value for the tools, which turned out to be less than SSA's estimate of the value. More importantly, Emily argued that the tools should be considered household goods, as the client and her spouse planned to use them to make repairs to their home in the near future. SSA agreed, and the client was thrilled!
5/31/2023
Story #73
Jamie Ausloos, EBS in Forest County, helped a client eliminate an SSI overpayment totaling over $13,000. SSA incorrectly counted the client's income for more than five years. Jamie helped the client submit a Request for Reconsideration form and bank statements for the months at issue. SSA not only eliminated the entire overpayment, but it also determined the client was due back payment of over $500. Most impressively, SSA made its decision in just three weeks (reconsiderations often take years!)
Monetary Impact = $13,500
4/28/2023
Story #66
Amanda Higgins, EBS in Dodge County, received a favorable decision from SSA after spending a year and a half helping a client with a complicated overpayment situation. The client had been receiving widows benefits for several years when SSA inappropriately reduced those benefits after her late husband's first wife applied for benefits on his record. The client tried to resolve this with SSA at the time, but the agency told her there was nothing they could do about it. As a result of the reduction in benefits, the client applied for retirement benefits on her own record. She withdrew the application for retirement benefits the following month when she thought the issue with her widows benefits had been resolved. However, SSA took nearly nine months to process the client's request, and eventually sent her an overpayment notice saying that she owed over $16,000. Amanda reviewed the client's records and discovered that the client had been both overpaid and underpaid between the retirement benefits and widows benefits. Amanda helped the client request reconsideration, but SSA did not issue a decision until over a year later, after the client contacted Senator Baldwin's office for assistance. In that decision, SSA agreed that the client had been overpaid and underpaid and recalculated the overpayment, which reduced it to a little over $900. Amanda then helped the client request an administrative waiver because the overpayment was the result of SSA's errors. Even though there was a pending waiver request, SSA sent a notice to the client saying that the overpayment would be withheld from the client's monthly benefits. After several frustrating attempts to check the status of the waiver, Amanda followed the SSA case escalation process and finally learned that the waiver was granted, and the overpayment was removed from the client's record.
Monetary Impact = $15,000
1/25/2023
Story #49
Pam Fuchs, EBS in Sauk County, helped a client withdraw her application for Social Security Retirement benefits. The client applied for SSR in April 2020, thinking that she would be working fewer hours. When that didn't happen, she submitted paperwork to withdraw her application for benefits in May 2020. However, that paperwork was not processed until June 2021, and the client continued to receive benefits until July 2021. The client tried to pay back these benefits several times, but one check was returned, and the replacement check she sent was never cashed. She called her local SSA field office several times to try to resolve this, but each time, she was told to wait 30 days for a resolution. Unfortunately, the client couldn't file a new application for SSR until the withdrawal of her first application was completed. The client sought Pam's help in January 2022. Pam followed the case escalation protocol with SSA, but the payment center stopped responding to the field office manager's requests. Pam then helped the client request a congressional inquiry with Sen. Baldwin's office. Finally, over two years after the client first attempted to withdraw her application for benefits, she received confirmation that her application had been successfully withdrawn. At that point, the client was able to repay the benefits she had received in error and reapply for SSR.
11/30/2022
Story #44
Kathy Schultz, EBS in Langlade County, helped a client get an over $21,000 SSDI overpayment waived. The client was receiving SSDI and remained under Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). When her employer had a worker shortage, the client offered to take on extra hours on a temporary basis, even though it was not good for her disabling condition to do so. Before taking on the extra hours, the client called SSA to ask how the work would affect her SSDI. The SSA worker said “there are no limits on your work for three years." In fact, the client had already used her Trial Work Period (TWP), and when a person enters their Extended Period of Eligibility (EPE) they stop receiving benefits, although remain eligible to reenroll in SSDI without a new application. The worker, however, misunderstood the client's TWP and EPE and made it sound like the client could work any amount of hours during her EPE and receive her full benefits the entire time. The client relied on the SSA worker's advice, however, and took on the extra hours. The client submitted a waiver on her own, and after a denial, Kathy helped the client call SSA to determine how they came up with their figures, and to reevaluate the denial based on the client's lack of fault in the overpayment. In an unheard of turn of events, based on this phone conference SSA reversed its denial and waived the entire overpayment. The client had been so fearful that the overpayment was going to cause her to lose her house. She was so thankful for Kathy's assistance that she sent her flowers as a gesture of appreciation.
Monetary Impact = $21,000
9/30/2022
Story #30
Mindy Shrader, EBS in Sauk County, recently helped a client successfully request reconsideration of an SSDI overpayment of more than $60,000. The client is a farmer and had received a crop insurance payment one spring when it was too wet to plant. Because the crop insurance payment was taxable income, he reported it on his taxes, which made his adjusted gross income look very high for the year. SSA assumed that the income was from work and determined that he was no longer eligible for SSDI. In addition, SSA terminated his Medicare enrollment. Mindy helped the client submit a copy of his tax return to SSA to show that the income was not from substantial gainful activity. She also requested that SSA provide critical payments while the reconsideration was pending so that the client could afford his living expenses. Not only was the reconsideration successful, but the client received more than $10,000 in backpay, and his Medicare was reinstated.
Monetary Impact = $60,000
9/30/2022
Story #27
Kayli Williamson, EBS in Polk County, helped a client successfully appeal a $5,500 SSI overpayment notice which occurred between 2019 - 2021. The client had been alleged to have been over the $2,000 resource limit due to having too much money in his bank accounts and for owning a camper. Kayli wasted no time in digging into this case, and upon investigation discovered that the camper had recently been assessed by a professional who worked in the camper buying and selling industry. This professional had estimated the camper to be worth $0 due to its extensive roof and structural damage, bad tires, and irreparable fifth wheel due. The estimate indicated that at best the camper would only be worth money for metal scrapping if brought into a recycling center. Furthermore, the EBS found out that the camper was supposed to be an asset owned by his ex-wife given that the terms of their divorce judgment said the camper would belong solely to the ex-wife after the divorce was final in 2006. Therefore, the client had no legal right to sell or transfer the camper as doing so would be in violation of the divorce court order. Finally, Kayli discovered that the reason that the client's bank account was over the limit was due to stimulus money he had recently received. The stimulus money should have been an exempt resource for SSI for 12 months after the date it was received. Shortly after sending in the appeal, Kayli and the client were informed that their reconsideration request had been fully successful. The client was thrilled.
Monetary Impact = $5,500
6/30/2022
Story #17
Joanne Welsh, EBS in Richland County, helped a client successfully appeal an SSI overpayment. The client had received an inheritance many years ago, which caused her to lose SSI eligibility at that time. Over time, the client gradually spent the inheritance on her living expenses. When that money was gone, she reapplied for SSI. Although she began receiving benefits, SSA later decided that she still had the money from the inheritance, which put her over the asset limit. Joanne helped the client prepare a summary of how she had spent the money over several years and request reconsideration. SSA agreed that the client had not been over the asset limit when she reapplied for SSI, reinstated her benefits, and determined that she was owed over $1,600 in backpay for the months her benefits were stopped after she received the overpayment notice.
Monetary Impact = $1,600
6/30/2022
Story #15