Elderly Woman With Disabled Son Ordered To Pay Back $63,000 to the SSA

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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New Jersey
Ruthanne Pickerd worked for 30 years as a nurse for the VA. but had to stop working. She currently needs monthly infusions and now can't afford them due to having to pay the SSA. The Social Security Administration claims they overpaid her by $63,000. Why should she be punished for their error?! She's not the only person this has happened to. Why wasn't a payment plan offered? This kind of stuff really makes me angry! 🤬 Do you think she should be made to pay it back?

 

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They really shouldn't be able to "demand" payment in "days" because they made a mistake!

Based on the article I just read, she has a special needs son and they are claiming that as income... and she reached out to them and it took them 17 months to respond. :(

It's really confusing and I can only imagine how terrible this must be for her. I honestly don't know if they overpaid her, if she should have to pay it back - but certainly not all at once! And they should not be able to threaten putting her in prison for their mistake!
 
If you think of it in terms of "shoe on the other foot", if they owed us $63,000 wouldn't we expect them to pay us? I think the bigger issue is the fact that the SSA can't get their s**t together and do the math right and that they're making these huge mistakes to begin with. It's not fair that she has to go without care because of them. That much I agree with. I don't think it's fair that she has to pay them but if they owed me that much I'd damn sure expect payment.
 

I can go either way on this. Yes, it was their mistake and it's a horrible situation for this poor woman. On the other hand, should she get a free pass just because she's old and has a disabled dependent? Wouldn't letting one person "off the hook" (no matter whose mistake it was) open a big ugly can of worms that couldn't be closed again?

Like @MarciKS said, "the other foot" matters. Kind of like finding a bag with $63K in it, isn't it? It's not yours... do you turn it into the police or spend/steal it? Oh well, my 2.5 cents.
 
CaliS said:
They really shouldn't be able to "demand" payment in "days" because they made a mistake!

Based on the article I just read, she has a special needs son and they are claiming that as income... and she reached out to them and it took them 17 months to respond. :(

It's really confusing and I can only imagine how terrible this must be for her. I honestly don't know if they overpaid her, if she should have to pay it back - but certainly not all at once! And they should not be able to threaten putting her in prison for their mistake!
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A similar situation developed in Australia. It was known as Robodebt and the so called debt was handed over to debt collectors. Some people committed suicide because they could not pay, nor could that demonstrate that they did not owe anything. These debt claims went back years. It took court action for people to be reimbursed and compensated.

Later it was found that a faulty algorithm was the reason for these debts.

robodebt scandal - Bing
 
In 1975 social security made an error in the amount of stipend that I was owed as a dependent of my father. They had paid a lump sum of about 1500$ for back payment. I bought a car and enrolled in an out of state college. My continuing benefits were to be about 110$ a month. They issued a demand for the over payment…but settled by taking all but 10$ per month till I was 21…and no longer eligible for the stipend. It happens…and they will get their money somehow.
 
Warrigal said:
A similar situation developed in Australia. It was known as Robodebt and the so called debt was handed over to debt collectors. Some people committed suicide because they could not pay, nor could that demonstrate that they did not owe anything. These debt claims went back years. It took court action for people to be reimbursed and compensated.

Later it was found that a faulty algorithm was the reason for these debts.

robodebt scandal - Bing
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Oh wow. I thought it was only in the Netherlands. It was a huge scandal. Some Bulgarians stole money and then they had a racist algorithm. Kids were taken from their parents, a lot died. Here if you work you get money to put your kid in childcare. So they all of a sudden had to pay insane much back. Kids taken away, divorces and they're still not paid back and now that they do pay you get new thieves taking advantage. Toeslagenschandaal.
 
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I didn’t watch the video but IMO the worst part of this is the stress and fear that it creates in the woman’s life.

Like the old saying goes, you can’t get blood from a turnip. 🫜

It used to be that you could request a hardship waiver or plan if SS suspended your benefits due to an overpayment error.

The plan offered used to be 10% of the monthly benefit against the amount owed but I have no idea how it works today.
 
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CallMeKate said:
Something smelled off here, so I did some digging. She was being paid by the government for taking care of her disabled son. She did not claim that income, so it was fraud. She was caught. Taking it to social media for sympathy backfires sometimes.
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I'm not quite understanding. Is this right? She did not have to give back the money she received. She just has to pay the taxes she owed on the money she received. Yet the SAA said they were collecting an overpayment. That's not the same thing as collecting the taxes, which should be the job of the IRS, not the SAA. I thought I understood, but now I hardly understand any of it.
 
Warrigal said:
A similar situation developed in Australia. It was known as Robodebt and the so called debt was handed over to debt collectors. Some people committed suicide because they could not pay, nor could that demonstrate that they did not owe anything. These debt claims went back years. It took court action for people to be reimbursed and compensated.

Later it was found that a faulty algorithm was the reason for these debts.

robodebt scandal - Bing
Click to expand...

:( That is horrible.
 
I think the problem might be that she…herself…is taking disability payments. That means you are not able to work. Then…I think…she is taking monies for caretaking a disabled son…which means she is actually able to work. So if I am guessing right it is not so much a tax thing as a misrepresentation of abilities.
 
Muskrat said:
I think the problem might be that she…herself…is taking disability payments. That means you are not able to work. Then…I think…she is taking monies for caretaking a disabled son…which means she is actually able to work. So if I am guessing right it is not so much a tax thing as a misrepresentation of abilities.
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It does appear that she was drawing Disability while receiving money to care for her disabled son and the disability she received is being pulled back.
So not only did she not currently qualify for Social Security Disability; according to this second notice, she shouldn’t have been getting it to begin with. https://tinyurl.com/387su4bw
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Warrigal said:
A similar situation developed in Australia. It was known as Robodebt and the so called debt was handed over to debt collectors. Some people committed suicide because they could not pay, nor could that demonstrate that they did not owe anything. These debt claims went back years. It took court action for people to be reimbursed and compensated.

Later it was found that a faulty algorithm was the reason for these debts.

robodebt scandal - Bing
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My daughter was a victim of that Robo debt scheme ….and Centerlink is just getting around to repaying the victims
@Warrigal
 
Kadee said:
My daughter was a victim of that Robo debt scheme ….and Centerlink is just getting around to repaying the victims
@Warrigal
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My granddaughter, who is intellectually challenged, was served a debt notice of several thousand dollars. She worked at a child care centre and also at a residential facility for disabled adults. She was preparing meals for both places.

The notice came years after she had ceased working there and she had no paperwork to prove her earnings. She was very distressed and her mother paid the debt for her.

The money that was eventually returned was but a fraction of the amount allegedly owed and could not be argued about. The provider that she was working for had gone out of business some years before she received the debt notice.
 
I don't understand how the money her son was receiving for disability counts as her income. Because she was maybe claiming him as a dependent or something ?? That should have been money for his survival, not counted as her income. If it was anyone's income, shouldn't it have been her son's income ??

In 2021 she was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease that forced her to retire from a 30-year nursing career. And shouldn't the medical care she now requires be covered by medicare ?? I think she's past retirement age ??

Just not a lot of facts in the video. As @MACKTEXAS mentioned, hopefully an attorney will take her case pro bono and get it sorted. She should at least speak with an attorney. More first consults are free and she will have a better idea where she stands.
 
Naturally said:
I don't understand how the money her son was receiving for disability counts as her income.
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Any money her son may or may not be receiving isn't at question. She was being paid as his caregiver and had also been getting her own disability for which she was not entitled because she was obviously "working" and being paid by the government, so they want it back.
 

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