How to read a Social Security overpayment letter

First, find the date

The date printed near the top of the first page is the most important number on the letter. Every deadline counts from it. Write it down before anything else, and keep the envelope too.

SSA assumes you received the letter 5 days after that date, unless you can show it arrived later. From there:

• 30 days to ask for reconsideration or a waiver if you want SSA to hold off on collecting while it decides.
• 60 days to ask for reconsideration at all.
• No deadline for a waiver request, though filing early protects the check.

Worked example: a letter dated October 14, 2026 is treated as received October 19. Thirty days later is November 18. Sixty days later is December 18. The free deadline calculator does this from your own date.

The amount and the months it covers

Look for a sentence like "We paid you $11,412.00 more than we should have." Near it, the letter usually names the period, for example "from March 2025 through August 2026." Check the period against what you know: when the pension started, when the job began, when the person moved, or when someone died.

If the months are wrong, the amount is probably wrong too. That is a reason to ask for reconsideration on Form SSA-561.

Some letters include a table with what SSA paid each month and what it says should have been paid. If yours does not and the explanation is unclear, you can ask SSA for a breakdown in writing.

The reason

The letter should say why SSA thinks it overpaid. The common reasons are:

• Work earnings over the annual limit, for people under full retirement age.
• A pension or other benefit that started and was not reflected in the payment.
• Payments made after someone died. See overpayment after a parent died.
• For SSI: savings, income or a change in living situation over the program's limits.
• Disability ending, or work activity that SSA says showed it had ended.

The reason tells you which response fits. If the reason is not true, ask for reconsideration. If it is true but not the person's fault, ask for a waiver. Our guide to SSA-561 vs SSA-632 explains the difference.

How SSA plans to collect

The letter explains what happens if you do nothing. For Social Security retirement, survivor and SSDI overpayments with notices dated from April 25, 2025, the default is to withhold 50% of the monthly benefit. For SSI, it is 10%. The letter also says when withholding starts and may offer to let you pay in full or by monthly payment instead.

If the default amount is too much to live on, you can ask for a lower rate. See what to do when SSA withholds 50%.

The "your rights" section

Usually under headings like "If You Disagree" and "If You Think You Should Not Have to Pay This Back," this part lists your options and the forms:

• Appeal (reconsideration), Form SSA-561: you think SSA is wrong about the overpayment or the amount.
• Waiver, Form SSA-632: it was not your fault and repaying would be a hardship or unfair. See how to fill out SSA-632.
• Lower withholding, Form SSA-634: you agree you owe it but cannot afford the rate.

It also explains that if you ask for an appeal or a waiver within 30 days, SSA will not collect until it decides, and how to get help, including the right to have a representative.

Who the letter is addressed to

Check whose name and claim number are at the top. A letter can be about one person and addressed to another: a representative payee, a surviving spouse, or the estate of someone who died. The person named is the one whose rights and deadlines the letter describes, and usually the one who must sign any form.

A quick checklist

• Date on the letter, and your 30-day and 60-day dates.
• Amount, and the months it covers.
• The reason, in SSA's words.
• Withholding rate and start month.
• Which form fits: SSA-561, SSA-632, SSA-634, or more than one.
• Who the letter is addressed to, and who needs to sign.
• A copy of the letter and the envelope in a safe place.

If the letter is hard to follow, you are not alone. SSA's own notices are long and spread the key facts across several pages. That is the problem FolkKeeper was built for: send a photo with names and numbers covered, and the review lays out each item above on one page.