Government withholds 84-year-old woman's social security, claims she owes for college

[babylonsister]

Government withholds 84-year-old woman's social security, claims she owes for college
By: WFLA
Posted: Mar 15, 2019 01:15 PM EDT



TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) - Mamie Walker is 84-years-old, has never attended college and depends on her monthly social security check of $1,498 to survive.

But for the past two months, the government has sent Mamie nothing, except a letter claiming she owes them $224,414.50.

A letter from the Treasury Department claims she has been referred to them for "collection action."

The letter explains up to 15 percent of each of her checks will be withheld to pay the debt. That was shocking enough, but no check came at all in February or March. She received another letter stating she won't receive another check until Sept. 2031.

"I'll probably be dead by then," Walker said. "I'm so scared. I don't sleep at night because I'm so scared next week ... my lights are going to be off."

Mamie says she not only never went to college, but she never learned to read or write because she had to go to work as a child to help support her family as a "field hand."

more...

https://www.wric.com/news/national/government-withholds-84-year-old-woman-s-social-security-claims-she-owes-for-college/1851453305?fbclid=IwAR1AhqzdQ2oQBH78BahRKmT76TDQYm2J6GSG1qtPIYTeXkiq4trGjccFgL4

[RKP5637]

1. FFS!!! And none help straighten this out!!! n/t

[malaise]

2. Rob the poor

Too sad- more institutional racism

[rampartc]

3. none of us are getting younger

and this is the help we can expect from social security:

"He says he called social security multiple times and listened to "hold music" for hours only to have no one pick up. He went to a local Social Security office and says he was told it sounds like fraud, but no one offered any help. "

[Drahthaardogs]

11. This is the government people want and pay for.

I'm a fed, but a skilled scientist/engineer. I haven't seen a real raise in a decade. We have a policy of attrition, two rehires for every three retires.

I work a ton of OT because we can't hire. My job involves public safety and I am working on some pretty high profile projects.

I'm counting the days until I can get out.

[rampartc]

22. i am a federal retiree, dod

i know the feeling

[Arkansas Granny]

4. They need to contact their Senators and Representative.

[obamanut2012]

7. My first thought -- they can get it taken care of the fastest

[whistler162]

15. Just tried to send a email asking whether

Castor could help. But, since I don't live in her district I can't.

https://castor.house.gov/contact/contactform.htm

[Hekate]

44. Find out the lady's ZIP code and use that to claim residence.Or the ZIP code of her Reps home office

Good luck with sending your comment.

[LS_Editor]

49. My first thought.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. OMG. There must be a SS attorney in Tampa who can take this

case pro bono.

[obamanut2012]

8. She doesn't need to get an attorney

She needs to call her Rep -- they can get kit taken care of ASAP.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. first off the social security attorneys dont do shit.

second , appeal, appeal , appeal. it took me 5 years to get ssi . i finaly asked for a hearing ,judge ruled in my favor. rule , always appeal, your right.

[tblue37]

19. At 84 she probably doesn't have 5 years. This needs to go viral so her Representative

is made aware of it, since we can contact her Rep for her. Publicity is her only hope.

Maybe we should send it en masse to all our liberal pundits and talk shows.

[Hortensis]

32. :) Remember how WE heard of it? All taken in hand before this.

[treestar]

21. She does not have to prove disability

Here there is only an administrative error.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

51. SSI is a totally different thing from what this woman is up against.

I was a paralegal for a while for an attorney who did SSI and disability appeals, and I learned a lot. None of which is relevant here.

What I suspect has happened is that someone else has fraudulently used her Social Security number, racked up serious school loans, and disappeared.

As others have pointed out, her Congressional Representative needs to get involved.

[sweetroxie]

6. OMG, it's a Dickens novel we're living in.

Debtor's prison is next. (Actually it already exists.)

[SunSeeker]

9. K & R for exposure.

[Amimnoch]

10. And just think, she's a lucky one to some extent.

This has become a news story. She is obviously lucky enough to be 84 and able to get her story out there or lucky enough to have family or a support network of some type that helped get her story out. She will likely be taken care of as a result...

How many others, who don’t have their own mental facilities intact enough at that age, that also don’t have a network of support to help get their issue assisted are there out there??

The lack of real support for our elderly in our country, especially in this age of technology, is so disgusting and shameful it makes we want to break out in tears.

[area51]

45. +1 n/t

[meow2u3]

12. Seems as if she's a victim of identity theft

Her rep might want to look into the possibility--or better yet, probability--of identity theft.

[littlemissmartypants]

18. That was my first thought. Been there done that.

Three times. The person who helped me said that these thieves literally pull SS numbers out of the air.

[George II]

13. At that age one doesn't need the stress of being falsely accused of crap like this....

....OR having her income affected.

Let's hope there are local organizations and/or attorneys willing to help her out.

[LiberalArkie]

14. One of her grand children used her as a co signer on their student loan more than likely.

[kchamberlin25]

20. My very first thought exactly.

Also, I must respond to an earlier rip on lawyers. I hired a firm to help with my disability claim, and it was worth every dime to me.

[MineralMan]

26. Bingo! I'm betting that's exactly what happened.

My policy has always been not to co-sign on any loan. When you do that, you are the actual borrower when push comes to shove.

Grandma may not have known what she was signing, especially since she says she never learned to read and write.

I'm not sure what the solution for her situation might be, really, if that is the case. The SSA isn't interested in the legality of her signature co-signing a loan. Someone is going to have to take this up within that family and get payments made on the student loan, or Grandma is likely to be in deep doo-doo.

[exboyfil]

33. Underwriting standards on student loans

Also in general no cosigning by someone 65 or older. My grandma had the same thing happen on an auto loan. At least another level of review should be necessary. SS should neither be attachable nor used as stated income for a loan. Private lenders can't attach SS. Neither should student loans be able to be attached.

[MineralMan]

35. I agree that SS benefits should not be attachable.

However, in the case of student loans, they apparently are, by law. I don't think grandparents should be allowed to co-sign student loans as long as that is the case.

The whole student loan racket is full of terrible possibilities. So many people can't repay them after graduation. Like so many decisions people make, taking on enormous debt based on future potential earnings is about as risky a thing as can be.

We desperately need to change how we handle higher education. Desperately!

[Demovictory9]

40. I hope a gofund is started for her

[Hortensis]

34. Too possible. I was the first to notify an elderly woman

that title of her house had recently transferred to someone else. I was appraising a neighboring home and knocked on the door to ask what the circumstances of the unlisted but apparent sale and condition of the property were. Big surprise to her. She was obviously an easy victim type, knew nothing about anything, but during the discussion she mentioned that a niece had moved in with her in the past year, so her mind was obviously going that way. I left hoping someone else would end up surprised and busted, but that wouldn't get her home back.

[Wellstone ruled]

39. Several cases of

a Relative or friend of a friend stealing property from elderly via the means you posted,here in Las Vegas.

Seems to be a Cottage Industry that is increasing through out the Country.

Pay the $28 filing fee at the Clerks office and away you go.

[Hortensis]

41. Increasing or increasing again? Those "trim the fat"

scams Republicans fooled ignorant and irresponsible voters into supporting trimmed into bone in many ways. With modern information technology this kind of thing should be decreasing dramatically.

And current right-wing ideology is that people should stand on their own feet and not depend on "intrusive" "welfare state" government, and that translates into transferring responsibility for stopping preventable and widespread white collar crime away from government. 84-year-old women tend to be natural victims whose families should have protected them better. No families? It is too bad that the natural order conservatives tend to believe in can be very hard on those who are all alone. Sad.

Grrrr.

[Wellstone ruled]

42. Sine 2008 there was a major increase of these

Elderly rip offs up till two years ago when the County Attorneys Office had to take action because of the News people exposing what the hell was really going on and it was Election Season.

It has not stopped rest assured,Stories do leak out. The Senior Community has always been ripe for financial abuse either by their own Relatives or Shyster Lawyers and corupt Social Service Persons.

This is all the result of the Privatization of Governmental Social Service Agencies and Federal Programs.

The other nasty is the Probate Judges,the wealthiest person in many a County Seat Town. Hey,when you steal a Families Estate and it is Legal,wow.

[Hortensis]

46. Interesting that it swung up starting in 2008.

I don't really doubt the degree of involvement of the rest at all. I sort of remember federal investigation of California state judicial corruption was badly lagging before we left the state because it had been long underfunded by Republicans since reaganomics took over. I was hoping California somehow was better now even as the rest of the nation continued the slide. Georgia has actually had some judicial cleanup by state authorities over the past several years, with dozens of judges resigning and some even prosecuted, but stories suggest it's still bad.

[Wellstone ruled]

50. We have had three Court appointed

Guardians that have finally been convicted of stealing whole estates plus obtaining mortgages under the names of those who they were to protect from fraud. The Problem was in the Family Court system where the Judges were working both sides of cases.

If it had not been for Family Members discovery,these suckers would still be up to their cheating games.

About the Probate judge,we had a neighbor who fell in the Tub and broke her neck only to be found the next day. Long story short,no Will could be found,and when the Clark County Probate Judge finished,he had 91% of the Estate. The two surviving Children split about 20k after a 16 month ordeal.

Just a reminder of how a corrupt local official operates.

[Hortensis]

55. The real motivation behind demands for states' rights.

[lindysalsagal]

43. If that's the case it's their risk and loss: They should not allow the elderly to co-sign.

Those rats will allow anyone to ruin their lives, and are happy to let a grandparent's love for a grandchild push them into it.

[zentrum]

17. I pity the

...real Mamie Walker too. There's some actual student in profound ruinous debt out there.

Meantime, European students are educated for free or at minimal cost.

Student debt is the newest way of moving our money upward. Used to be mortgage debt.

[treestar]

23. Mortgage, cars, now college

Next it will be to pay for privatized schools and maybe even food. They'll have us born into debt.

[zentrum]

53. Yup. Water too.

[bluestarone]

24. THIS is beyond crazy!

I really hope someone helps this poor woman!

[KansasKali]

25. Did someone steal her id?

And then use that to take out loans for college?

[MineralMan]

27. More likely, as mentioned upthread, Grandma co-signed

for a student loan for a relative. The co-signer agrees to cover the loan if the original borrower doesn't pay. Grandma needs an attorney, if that is the case. The SSA won't deal with that situation in her favor.

Odds are, if she did co-sign and if she cannot read and write, as she claims, a civil court will decide that the original borrower used deception to get her to sign the loan, but the SSA might not resume SS payments anyhow.

[MichMan]

31. If she did co sign ?

We don't know if that is the case.

What type of heartless person would rack up that much debt and stick their elderly grandmother with the bill ?

[MineralMan]

36. You're right. We don't know.

However, it's not at all uncommon for grandparents to co-sign on loans they should not co-sign. It happens all the time. Shame on people who do that!

[csziggy]

28. Local news story says the family has called a lawyer

Plus the local news is contacting the agencies on Mrs. Walker's behalf.

So, he called Better Call Behnken for help getting to the bottom of this mess.

We called the Social Security Administration and was told someone would reach out the family to investigate. We also called the U.S. Department of Education, and we'll keep calling until we get answers for Mamie.
https://www.wfla.com/8-on-your-side/better-call-behnken/government-withholds-84-year-old-woman-s-social-security-claims-she-owes-thousands-for-college/1849356204

[elleng]

29. I received a similar letter recently, wrote back to them (actually to my State's treasurer,)

who said they don't do such withholding; fortunately Treasury hasn't withheld from me.

[yaesu]

30. The 2005 bankruptcy bill made it impossible to discharge student loan debt, financial servitude for

life.

https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00029

[dalton99a]

37. It's a horrific bill - which is why there will not be a Biden/Warren or Biden/Beto ticket

[shanny]

38. Agree.

Biden should stay out of the fray imo. It will highlight his tarnished legacy. Happy warrior/surrogate I'm fine with, even a Cabinet position, but that's it.

[Grasswire2]

47. as far as I know..

..she can only be garnished to the point of leaving her with $750 a month, unless the rule has changed. If it HAS changed, many seniors are going to be in trouble.

But this looks like mistaken identity.

[patphil]

48. Sounds like a case of identity theft

I think someone used her social security number and racked up an enormous debt.

Patrick Phillips

[Honeycombe8]

52. Her representatives need to make some calls and get this straightened out. Sounds like a SS # error.

It'd be interesting to know WHEN she supposedly took out the loans. And WHY are they just now discovering this? She's been getting those checks for a couple of decades. Something's wrong here.

I had someone's NSF check show up on my credit report once. It was for my Social Security number, but a different name. They went strictly on the Social Security Number. It turned out her number was like mine, except for one number. So someone made a typo.

This can really happen.

[clementine613]

54. Really? Rethugs are now stealing SS from seniors???

Why aren't Rethugs going to jail over this??