It seemed too good to be true. A $60,000 deposit from the Social Security Administration landed in a woman's bank account with no explanation, as if she had won the lottery without buying a ticket.
But is this a real windfall, or has she been caught up in a grand mistake? And more importantly, what should she do with the money?
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"Don't spend a cent," reads a top comment on a post about the incident in the subreddit r/Social Security. Others guessed that it might be a real back payment, commenting that such a large deposit likely requires approval from multiple people working for the federal government.
The woman who received the money is unemployed and receives Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), her 22-year-old child explained in the post. About three months prior, the mother's monthly SSDI payment doubled. The family was already waiting for an explanation of that increase before the $60,000 deposit arrived.
"We have been scratching our brains trying to figure out why she got such a big deposit," the user adds.
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Expert advice: 'This is very likely legitimate'
Carter McClung, director of financial planning at Blue Rock Financial Group, says that this seemingly random deposit may, in fact, be her money.
"Short version: This is very likely legitimate and most likely the result of a long-overdue correction. It appears to be a combination of (1) corrected primary SSDI benefits and (2) retroactive auxiliary (dependent) benefits that were never paid," McClung explains in an email.
The Reddit post states that the older woman tried calling repeatedly for answers about the original increased monthly payment; however, Social Security Administration representatives would only confirm that they were looking into the matter.
McClung says he suspects that the woman's calls prompted further investigation of her benefits, prompting a correction for past mistakes. SSDI payments are based on a benefit formula tied to past earnings, among other factors, and it's not uncommon for the calculations to be wrong.
When the lump sum arrived, the family called again and eventually got more information.
"They said that every six months they were supposed to review her account and adjust if needed but never did that in the 23 years she was on disability," the post reads, adding that the representative also mentioned a back payment for an issue related to dependents.
This last part is a big clue, McClung says.
The woman has at least three children, and it appears they were not fully accounted for in dependent calculations, he says. People who get SSDI benefits can receive up to 50% of the primary benefit for each eligible dependent, subject to a family maximum.
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"If auxiliary benefits were never activated, that’s a significant administrative error," McClung says. "The fact that her monthly benefit recently doubled is a strong indicator SSA corrected the ongoing calculation first, then issued a lump-sum underpayment later. That sequencing is common and usually signals a correction."
Still, he adds, her best bet is to play it safe until she can get further clarification from the government. She should wait for written confirmation officially labeling the payment and obtain a payment history statement before spending the funds.
