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Repay overpaid Social Security benefits

Please pay us back if your benefit amount was more than it should have been.

If you got a letter in the mail that says you got more money than you should have, please pay us back within 30 days.

Benefits are overpaid when we can't accurately calculate your benefit amount because our information is wrong or incomplete. It can happen if you don't share updates with us about what's changed in your life, like your ability to work, living situation, marital status, or income.

We will wait at least 30 days (plus 5 mail days) from the date of the overpayment notice before we start collection of the overpayment. If you submit a request for waiver or reconsideration before 30 days has passed, we will not begin collection of the overpayment until a decision is made on your request. 

Other ways to complete this task

Repay online if eligible

If your overpayment letter includes online payment instructions and a Remittance ID, you can also repay online at pay.gov.

Call us

Available in most U.S. time zones Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., in English, Spanish, and other languages.

Tell the representative you want to pay us back for overpaid benefits.

Call TTY +1 800-325-0778 if you're deaf or hard of hearing.

Ask us for help

If you'd like to request to repay us in smaller monthly payments, please fill out the Request for Change in Overpayment Recovery Rate (Form SSA-634) and fax or mail the form to your local Social Security office.

If you can't afford to pay us back, and if you feel the error wasn't your fault or is unfair for some other reason, ask us to waive repayment.

If you don’t agree that you’ve been overpaid, or you believe the overpayment amount is incorrect, you can request a reconsideration. We call this an appeal.