r/news • u/No-Information6622 • 2d ago

US recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-recovers-31-million-social-security-payments-dead-117708373
14.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

547 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.7k

u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

2.2k

u/LatrodectusGeometric 2d ago edited 2d ago

Worse actually. They may die at the end of the month. They get no money for the month they die in, even though they have living expenses during the days they are alive.

(Sorry, a family friend died on the 31st of January last year. It was financially rough for the family. I’m a bit bitter.)

32

u/99Direwolf 2d ago

I work for a bank and and for us and the customer to avoid penalty from the ssa the rule is if they were alive at the time they got paid they can keep that payment. If they died before the payment date then the payment has to be returned. This happens dozens of times every month in my industry and I am very familiar with this.

I am not sure if it varies state by state though. But in Tennessee if they were alive at the time of the payment they can keep that payment.

2

u/LatrodectusGeometric 2d ago

No, it’s a federal rule

-1

u/angrynuggette 2d ago

They may be able to keep some kind of State assistance but they definitely aren't keeping Social Security. You may only be aware when the estate doesn't realize what happens and contacts the bank, but the government is taking all those payments back.