Ssi Warning

[gp747]

i am trying to keep someone from making the same honest mistake i made. i was on ssi and had a claim in for a long time.

i did not realize if you won your award that you would have to pay back your ssi payments

that you recieved .

i wound up owing around $4000 and they are taking about $60 a month out of my retirement check every month.

also i applied for a credit card and was turned down because they said i had a lien,so now my credit is messed up,there goes my v.a. loan i was hoping to get.

i just did not know ,seems like the v.a. and social security would get together and deduct this for you to start with.i am screwed now as far as getting a v.a. loan to get a house,which i have dreamed about all my life.

i just did not know ,and i hope i keep someone else from making the same mistake. i would have paid them if i had known ,especially if it hurt my credit.

[LarryJ]

Help me now and see if I get this straight?

You had a claim in to the VA?

You were receiving SSI (not SSDI but SSI)?

You received your retroactive payment from the VA?

The Social Security people wanted the $4000 back that they had paid you while you were waiting to receive your VA claim?

You are now having to pay back the SSI?

You did not know that the Social Security had placed a lien on your VA monthly payment?

Is this what you are telling us?

Just trying to get your post straight.

[gp747]

Help me now and see if I get this straight?

You had a claim in to the VA?

You were receiving SSI (not SSDI but SSI)?

You received your retroactive payment from the VA?

The Social Security people wanted the $4000 back that they had paid you while you were waiting to receive your VA claim?

You are now having to pay back the SSI?

You did not know that the Social Security had placed a lien on your VA monthly payment?

Is this what you are telling us?

Just trying to get your post straight.

ok i was on ssi ,at the same time i had a claim in for my va disability . so i did not know they would consider backpay from va against me.

i retired at 62 about the same time all this came together. so they say my back pay for some of the time counted against me and i would have to pay it back.

so they started taking it out of my retirement check not my va check.

i knew they were taking out the money but i did not know it was considered a lien and would be on my credit report.

i got ssi because of my illness,i did not have enough credits ,just barely missed having enough credits to get on ssdi.

it has been really confusing with them because you may not hear from rhem for three months when they make a change.

i got off ssi and decided to take my retirement instead. i would have paid all back at the time i got my backpay if i had known.

i was asked if i wanted to file a waiver , but i figured if you owe ,you owe and decided to just pay it back monthly. i dont mind paying them back,but messing up my credit is what i did not expect.

Edited January 30, 2010 by skunk

[LarryJ]

Okay.

Gotcha.

Skunk, you need to explain this all to the credit agency(s).

I'd start with Experian............I've heard that if THEY clear up your credit rating, the other two follow along.

Explain it to them just like you did here (Well, I'd polish it up a tiny bit, but you get my drift!).

[gp747]

Okay.

Gotcha.

Skunk, you need to explain this all to the credit agency(s).

I'd start with Experian............I've heard that if THEY clear up your credit rating, the other two follow along.

Explain it to them just like you did here (Well, I'd polish it up a tiny bit, but you get my drift!).

thanks larry and i agree it needs a whole lot of polishing,that kind of stuff is really confusing to me.

i have always been honest with them and believe if i owe i should pay . ignorance is not an excuse.

[Chuck75]

Something is really strange--

SSI at 62 (early retirement) or full retirement has absolutely nothing to do with VA Compensation.

SSDI and VA compensation are also two entirely separate things, and can be paid concurrently for the same disability. A VA Pension as opposed to compensation can result in money due back to the government if both the VA Pension and SSI/SSDI are paid for the same period. (The devil is in the details)

SSDI or SSI can be taxable under certain conditions. However VA compensation is not taxable and is not included in any calculation that would be used to determine tax-ability of an SSI or SSDI payment.

On the other hand, a retroactive SSI or SSDI payment can have tax implications. There is a "special method" and IRS calculation form for this situation.

What likely happened is that the SSI/SSDI payment caused the veteran's income to go above income limits for a VA pension, since it is in part income based.

[deltaj]

Something is really strange--

SSI at 62 (early retirement) or full retirement has absolutely nothing to do with VA Compensation.

SSDI and VA compensation are also two entirely separate things, and can be paid concurrently for the same disability. A VA Pension as opposed to compensation can result in money due back to the government if both the VA Pension and SSI/SSDI are paid for the same period. (The devil is in the details)

SSDI or SSI can be taxable under certain conditions. However VA compensation is not taxable and is not included in any calculation that would be used to determine tax-ability of an SSI or SSDI payment.

On the other hand, a retroactive SSI or SSDI payment can have tax implications. There is a "special method" and IRS calculation form for this situation.

What likely happened is that the SSI/SSDI payment caused the veteran's income to go above income limits for a VA pension, since it is in part income based.

Skunk, If you were just a little short of credits to get SSD rather than SSI you can request that Social Security recalculate the record as earned rather than as paid. (Keep in mind that sometimes we earned money in a quarter and are paid by our employer for that in the next quarter. An example would be if we earned money in the end of December and are paid for it in January, which is the beginning of a new quarter). The other thing you can do to get additional wage credits from Social Security is to submit a copy of your DD214 to Social Security to receive military wage credits. You can request that Social Security give you a brochure on military wages explaining what these are and why these are given. If you have 2 DD214s then submit both DD214s to Social Security. When you applied for Social Security did you submit copies of your DD214 to Social Security? As far as I know military wage credits for Social Security were eliminated for anyone discharged after a particular year from the military but those military wage credits as far as I know still exist for earlier years but I'm not sure of this. Call Social Security for details on military wage credits.