WSJ—Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors

Posted by Kendall Harmon

A little-noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.

Social Security benefits are off-limits to creditors, such as credit-card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Social Security and disability payments.

The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student-, farm- and small-business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-WatchAging / the Elderly* Economics, PoliticsEconomyPersonal FinanceThe Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--The U.S. Government

3 Comments
Posted March 9, 2010 at 8:36 am

To comment on this article: Go to Article View

The URL for this article is http://www.kendallharmon.net/t19/index.php/t19/article/28720/



1. TiffanyG44 wrote:

I have to admit that I have not heard about this event before but I totally agree with your opinion about this question. Our financial situation is really complicated and such changes can affect many people I think. Speaking about myself, before several months I have got cash payday advance but now I am really worrying if this decision to get it was right. I hope that everything will be great in the future and all this crises will end soon. Thanks a lot for the ability to express my own opinion and keep up publishing these great posts in the future.

May 15, 7:40 am | [comment link]
2. SusanE88 wrote:

I agree, the financial situation is really difficult after the crises not only in the US but in the whole world either. Besides, it’s much harder for those who have debts and, unfortunately, it’s the larger part of all the people. Economics was rather steady for rather long time, so people were not afraid of taking loans and mortgages. And what should they do now? They are fully in debts. My brother took a mortgage and now he constantly takes the loans online in order to pay the fees off.

September 20, 5:13 am | [comment link]
3. JasonHills wrote:

What I find disturbing about the issue is, it shows just how desperate our government is to come up with ways to generate revenue.
Not saying people shouldn’t pay their debts but there are situations where it may be impossible to do so particularly when it comes to the disabled. It wasn’t as if disability was an alternate career choice.
Most disabled persons I know have spent most if not all their savings on medical interventions and everyday living expenses. During the time it takes to be awarded benefits, many have already come to living near or at poverty level.  Debt consolidation loans are considered to be the ideal solution as they allow to get out of debt with least efforts involved. The debt consolidation company you apply to will give you a low interest loan that will be enough to cover multiple loans with higher interest rates you possess. If one hasn’t the funds to defend against invalid debt claims, the situation becomes even more disturbing.

March 21, 5:03 am | [comment link]


© 2012 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.

For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com


<< Back to main page

<< Return to Mobile view (headlines)