5.8.3 Overpayment Collections

Once a debt is final (i.e., administrative and judicial review have been exhausted or never taken), the agency has several collection options:

• Offset from future claims payable (which often happens without written notice, to the puzzlement of those who may have forgotten a long-ago overpayment notice or who are the victim of agency error)
• Civil action
• Offset from state income tax refunds
• Treasury Offset Program (offset from federal benefits)

If your client did not get the agency’s original notice of debt through no fault of their own (e.g., the agency sent the Overpayment Account Establishment Notice to a stale postal or e-mail address) and thus had no timely opportunity to contest the alleged debt, your client has been denied due process, which should enable you to get collection suspended and have an opportunity to effectively contest the debt and/or seek waiver.