I’ve been through two scenarios. One time they sent me a letter saying they had over-payed me by $12,000. They said I could come in person and discuss it with them. So I made an appointment and brought my step-dad in for support. (Yes, they let you do that.) Anyways, we met with an SSA worker and talked to them for about 40 minutes. Our argument was that I had no idea I was over-payed so it wasn’t my fault and SSDI was my only income and it would take me many years to pay back.
I should say here that I found the worker a little creepy. I just had a bad feeling about him like he had a little power over me and he wanted me to beg or something. I’m glad I had my step-dad there for moral support… Anyways, the worker shuffled through huge stacks of papers and forms and he was just beginning to wind it up by saying I had to pay back the $12,000.Like I said I had no job at the time, my only income was SSDI. But as he went through the last stack of papers and we were litterally getting ready to leave right then, he told us to wait a minute. He pulled out a single page form. IDK what the form was called but it had no writing, it wasn’t filled out. He told this that this was a crucial form that some worker should have given me, but no one gave it to me. The worker said, that since that one form had not been filled out, it meant I was not obligated to pay anything back! Oh man, I don’t think I had ever been happier in my life. So we finished up the meeting with a couple formalities and we left.
Oh yeah, twice, years later I logged into my online bank account and saw deposits that I had no clue what they were for. The first one was for $11,000 from the SSA and the second one a year later was for $12,000. They didn’t give me a warning and I called up SS and they said they were back payments that I could do whatever I wanted with them.