here's my situation: the social security administration just sent a letter stating that my grandma was overpaid over $4,000. last year she left out of the country for about 9 months and was still getting her supplementary security income through direct deposit. they want her to repay the money of course but there's a problem. she has once again left the country and i don't know when she'll be back. how does this affect me? well, my name is also on the bank account that was receiving these payments. the reason for this is b/c my grandmother doesn't know english and it was for convenience purposes so that i can easily withdraw the money for her. and when she left for those 9 months i didnt' know i had to report it to SS administration (seriously, i had no idea). i've never dealt with them before. it was always someone else who applied and filled out papers for her even when she moved in with me. my question is if the $4,000 isn't paid, can/will they come after me and hold me liable for that money?
They'll simply suspend further payments until restitution is made. It's extremely unlikely they'll come after you.
thanks mrpaige. i'm just worried that restitution involves me since my bank account was still getting credited with her SSI while she was out of the country. so, indirectly, i was accepting these payments on her behalf and thus it is my responsibility.
I would call them and explain the situation to them just so they know, but my understanding is the way they handle these situations is that they suspend payment until the amount is repaid, and if they can't get it that way, they go after any tax refund that might be coming to the person who received the overpayment. They may not talk to you, though, since it's not your SSI account that's been overpaid. As far as I know, though, you have no liability at all, anymore than you would if the payments came by mail to a mailbox you shared with your grandmother.
