Oops, They Did It Again! SSA Will Now Default to 50 Percent Withholding Rate to Recover SSDI Overpayments

• The maximum withholding rate for SSI overpayments remains at 10 percent.

Effective April 25, 2025, “overpayment notices will provide a default Title II [SSDI] overpayment benefit withholding rate of 50 percent of the monthly benefit.” Social Security Emergency Message, EM 25029 (4/25/25). We may soon see an updated SSA Program Operations Manual System (POMS) policy on this issue.
Readers may be confused by these rapid changes. SSA just announced in a 3/7/25 blog posting that it was returning to a 100 percent default withholding rate from current benefits (rescinding a 10 percent withholding rate that was announced in March 2024).

What About Overpayments in Existence Prior to 4/25/25?
The 4/25/25 EM states: “If an overpaid individual has a prior overpayment and incurs a new overpayment, all outstanding overpayments will default to 50 percent benefit withholding at the end of the approximately 90-day period if the individual does not request reconsideration, a waiver, or negotiate a lower repayment rate.” (emphasis added) If there is no new overpayment, withholding should continue at the current rate.

What NABWIS Members Can Do:

• Advise beneficiaries of 3 key rights when they get an overpayment notice:
  • Appeals – starting with a Request for Reconsideration, to challenge whether an overpayment occurred, or challenge the overpayment amount. Be aware of the 60-day time limit for appealing.
  • Request for Waiver – asking SSA to not collect the overpayment, typically by showing: 1) without fault, and 2) inability to repay. You can request a waiver at any time. Check the POMS for new rules explaining when Social Security will presume no fault in creating the overpayment. 
  • Request a Lower Rate of Repayment – This can be requested at any time. As circumstances change, the rate of repayment can be lowered more than once based on inability to pay. Repayment rates as low as $10 per month can be granted. Beneficiaries can use Form SSA-634, “Request for Change in Recovery Rate” to submit their request.

These three key rights are discussed at length in Article #1 from the NABWIS Deeper Dive series, “Dealing with Social Security and SSI Disability Overpayments” (March 10, 2022), located at the members-only section of www.NABWIS.org.
Dated: April 30, 2025