Some Social Security beneficiaries who asked the agency to explain an overpayment were still waiting more than 900 days later, according to an audit by the agency’s own Office of the Inspector General. The audit, titled “Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Overpayment Notices” and carried as OIG file 152407, was announced on Sept. 4.
The auditors found that the notices telling people they owe money often did not meet SSA’s own rules, and that requests for an explanation were frequently mishandled. SSA agreed to implement the recommendations.
What the 900-day wait covers
The figure comes from a sample, not an average. In its full report, the inspector general’s office says that as of June 2026 SSA had not resolved 11 of the 125 explanation requests it sampled, or 9 percent, and that each of the 11 had been pending longer than 900 days. The report does not name a longest wait.
The sample was drawn from 559 overpayments from fiscal 2023 that had an explanation request on the record. The report adds that a wait that long is not contrary to agency policy, because SSA has no set deadline for answering such a request.
Anyone holding an overpayment notice that gives an amount but no reason should ask SSA in writing to explain it, and should not wait for the answer before deciding what to file. The 30-day window to ask for a waiver or appeal keeps running while the question sits unanswered, and the dollars at stake are the monthly deductions that begin if nothing is filed.
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How often the notices fell short
Auditors reviewed 126 overpayment notices drawn from a population of 50,948. SSA did not issue a policy-compliant notice for 58 of them, or 46 percent of the notices reviewed. Projecting from that sample, the office estimates employees incorrectly processed more than 469,000 overpayment notices in fiscal 2023.
The explanation requests fared worse. SSA processed 79 of the 125 sampled requests incorrectly, 63 percent, and correctly handled 46, or 37 percent. A beneficiary whose letter does not say how the debt arose, and who asks, had barely better than a one-in-three chance of getting a correctly handled response in that sample.
What the inspector general told SSA to fix
Michelle L. Anderson, the Assistant Inspector General for Audit as First Assistant, is quoted in the office’s announcement of the findings. The office issued six recommendations aimed at tighter controls, more accurate notices, policy-compliant templates and proper documentation and processing of explanation requests.
SSA agreed to carry them out. The report does not set out a date by which every notice will be corrected, so notices already in the mail were written under the old process.
Where the audit meets the collection rules
The audit is about the letters, not the withholding rate. On the collection side, SSA’s overpayment page says it automatically withholds 50% of a benefit or 10% of an SSI payment each month until the debt is repaid. It says the agency waits at least 30 days after sending the notice before it begins to collect, and that a waiver or appeal requested within that period stops collection until SSA decides.
That pairing is the practical point of the audit for a reader. A confusing notice does not extend the 30 days, and a request for an explanation is not the same as a request for a waiver or an appeal. Asking why the money was overpaid and asking SSA to stop collecting are two separate steps.
Keeping a dated copy of every request, including the explanation request, gives a record if the answer never comes. The same page lists the agency’s options for responding, and the free route runs through SSA directly.
Is the overpayment letter you hold missing its reason?
In the audit’s sample, more than six in ten explanation requests were handled wrongly, and some sat unanswered for years. A reader who waits for the reason before filing can lose the 30 days and see half a monthly check withheld.
“The Social Security Check Protection Kit” includes “the three SSA forms that stop or pause collection (SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634)” and “an overpayment response worksheet” for logging the notice date, the amount, what was asked and when. Part 5, “Overpayments: The Full Playbook,” walks the sequence in order.
Get the overpayment worksheet and SSA forms kit for a notice that explains nothing →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
