If someone cannot afford full recovery of their overpayment, they can contact Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or their local office.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) said it is reinstating a plan to recover 100% of overpayments to beneficiaries, a policy the agency abandoned last year after an outcry over cases in which the practice led some Americans to receive shock bills amounting to thousands of dollars.

“Under Trump’s leadership, Social Security has reinstated a cruel policy of clawing back Social Security overpayments with no regard for an American’s ability to pay or whether the overpayment was an error by the agency,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.