Next month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will go completely paperless, which the agency claims will reduce fraud and administrative costs.
The transition to digital checks is one of several changes the SSA claims to have implemented during the Trump administration to modernize the system, including reducing disability claim backlogs and shortening wait times on the phone and in field offices.
However, one major issue has not been resolved: how the agency collects overpayments.
For the past two years, 9 Investigates has reported on how the Social Security Administration (SSA) demands repayment of benefits it claims were issued in error — sometimes years or decades later — by withholding entire monthly checks, leaving vulnerable Americans with little to no income.
Clare Gundersen, a widow from Winter Garden, claims she’s been trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare for over a decade.
“They took away my money. I do not have a penny.”
Clare Gundersen and her husband have been married for 47 years. Both worked for MetLife and retired at 65.
When her husband died in 2010, she went to the SSA office to start collecting his Social Security.
That, she claims, marked the beginning of the nightmare. “I went down to Social Security when he died, and it was my biggest mistake.”
Clare claims she began receiving survivor benefits, but five years later, in 2015, she received a letter from the Social Security Administration stating that her late husband owed the government nearly $100,000. The agency claimed she had been overpaid and demanded the refund.
“They took away all my money,” she told 9 Investigates.
Clare claims the checks simply stopped coming. Like dozens of others we’ve interviewed, her bank account was never accessed, but her benefits were completely withheld.
And the worst part? She says she still doesn’t know what she did wrong.
“I wrote letters to everyone. Not one person assisted me. Some did not even respond to me. When I went down to the office, they told me to go home. You have to wait. “Wait for what?”
There are no answers. No income. No way to fight back.
9 Investigates, in collaboration with Cox Media Group stations and KFF Health News, discovered dozens of cases in which overpayment collection tactics left people homeless, bankrupt, or worse.
At one point, 2 million people per year were receiving overpayment notices. Claire is one of them.
She claims she has also been unable to collect her own Social Security benefits because the agency has two Social Security numbers on file for her, an error she has attempted to correct for years without success.
She has been living without her rightful benefits for more than a decade.
“I don’t get anything now. Clare said, “I’m living on $297,” referring to her small retirement payout.”I couldn’t pay my rent.”
She now lives with family, relying on a small, fixed income.
Although the SSA temporarily changed its policy following our previous reports, limiting collections to only 10% of a monthly check.
The agency has now reversed this. They’ve gone back to withholding 100% of some checks.
And Clare’s nightmare may not end until it’s too late.
According to her most recent SSA letter, she won’t receive benefits until 2028. She will be 92 years old.
“They will not return it to me when I am 92. By then, I’ll have died.”
9 Investigators contacted the Social Security Administration on Clare’s behalf. A spokesperson replied:
“Privacy laws prevent us from commenting on this case. “We’ll contact Ms. Gundersen directly.”
Clare says she is still waiting.
