Did you know...?

...the federal government can screw up and it doesn't matter, you have to pay? Here's the story:

I get a letter last year from social security telling me that I have an appointment with them for my daughters to get a check from my account (I get disability). So I go down there and explain that my daughters get death benefits from their father's account. The rep goes: "well, a child has two parents right? And if both parents work, they both support their child, right?"

Oh. Makes sense. And I figure this woman knows her stuff. Dummy me.

I get a letter from social security saying that my older daughter was "overpaid" and that I better fork over $3,500 right now. Why was she overpaid, I wonder? There was a little form enclosed saying that if I disagree with them then I should provide the evidence. I called the 800 number because I didn't know why Heidi was overpaid...and the lady wouldn't tell me! She did say she would have a copy of the explanation mailed to me and in the meantime, she'd put in that I was filing an appeal. I filled out my form and under evidence I wrote: "I have no idea why you think the account is overpaid; please explain" and mailed it back.

A month or two goes by and the next letter I get is not the explanation. It says that my benefit will be withheld until next October (or something Draconian like that) until the overpayment is paid up. WTF? So I call back and speak to a gentleman who was gracious enough to tell me that the reason there is an overpayment is because Heidi wasn't supposed to receive a benefit from both my account and Rich's account.

Now I was mad. Why did the representative tell me that story about two parents supporting a child and why did she file under my account for my daughters even after I told her the girls were receiving death benefits? "I have no idea," the man says. "You have to go down to the office and get a waiver form."

A nasty thought occurs to me. "If Heidi is overpaid, then my other daughter is too," I say.

The man says, "Not necessarily."

Yeah? I don't believe him...now I think they don't know their asses from their elbows.

All right, so I go down to the office--the same one I was summoned to last year--and I meet with another representative and explain the deal to her. She looks up Kristin's record and...yup! Kristin also is overpaid. I tell the woman, stop her check! The woman tells me she's giving me two waiver forms because once Kristin's check stops, they will wonder what happen and then send me a "pay us now" letter.

The waiver form is 8 pages long and it didn't take me long to realize that in order to get it, it doesn't matter that they were at fault. No, I have to prove I can't afford to pay them back. I have to provide pay stubs for everyone in the house, have to provide the make, model & year of all the cars, provide copies of all our bills and so on and so forth and et cetera et cetera et cetera. In other words, they make it nearly impossible for you.

You know, we really needed that money because for two years TB was out of work, injured. Then he was laid off for almost a year and we had all sorts of calamities--collapsing ceiling in the family room, botched roofing job, a new well...it has been rough.

I think we could swing paying freaking SSA off if we could do it like we pay our credit cards. And it would be nice if they'd say, "Oh, we're so sorry, we screwed up, would you please pay us back?" I really resent the stance they take--it doesn't matter if we f'cked up, give us back the money NOW or else. There's another agency that does that and you don't want to cross them: the IRS. God help us.

I'm going to take this form and talk to the lawyer who helped me get disability in the first place. Like I said, I will pay them back but I don't like their head smashing methods. :P

Up to this point, I'd encouraged Linda to apply for SSI for Little T. After what happened to me, there is no way she is going to do that and I can't blame her.