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GN 02230.035: Overview of the Non-Entitled Debtor Initiative

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  • Effective Dates: 08/19/2008 - Present
  • Effective Dates: 10/31/2017 - Present
  • TN 6 (08-08)
  • TN 9 (10-17)
  • GN 02230.035 Overview of Non-Entitled Debtors
  • GN 02230.035 Overview of the Non-Entitled Debtor Initiative
  • A. Definition of a Non-Entitled Debtor
  • A. Definition of a non-entitled debtor
  • A Non-Entitled Debtor (NED) is a person or entity that owes a debt to the Social Security Administration (SSA) but is not entitled to Social Security benefits or Supplemental Security Income payments. Consequently, the NED does not have a Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) or a Supplemental Security Record (SSR) of his or her own. Examples of NEDs include but are not limited to the following situations:
  • * Representative payee of deceased title II beneficiary (GN 02230.040)
  • * Representative payee of deceased title XVI recipient (future release)
  • * Representative payee who has not relinquished conserved funds (future release)
  • * Representative payee who has misused title II or title XVI funds (future release)
  • * Representative payee who has misapplied title XVI funds (future release)
  • * Person who owes civil monetary penalties and assessments (future release)
  • * Person who owes a court ordered penalty or restitution (future release)
  • * Attorney and non-attorney representatives who receive excess fees (future release)
  • * Person who fraudulently or erroneously obtains benefits (future release)
  • * Organizational payees (future release)
  • A Non-Entitled Debtor (NED) is a person or entity that owes a debt to the Social Security Administration (SSA) but is not entitled to Social Security benefits or Supplemental Security Income payments. Consequently, the NED does not have a Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) or a Supplemental Security Record (SSR) of his or her own.
  • B. Purpose
  • B. Scope
  • In order to take appropriate actions, SSA’s automated debt collection systems have always interfaced with an MBR or SSR for the debtor. In cases where the debtor did not have a master record, debt collection required manual control and efforts.
  • Currently, NED captures payments made to representative payees after the death of a title II beneficiary, and overpayments to representative payees prior to the death of the title II beneficiary for which the payee is responsible. For more detailed information about this population of NED, see Representative payee of deceased title II beneficiary GN 02230.040.
  • The purpose of the NED initiative is to create an automated system for controlling debts (both overpayments and incorrect payments) owed by people who do not have master records. Therefore, SSA developed the capability within the Debt Management System (DMS) to identify, record, collect, and otherwise resolve debts owed by NEDs.
  • Future releases:
  • * Representative payee of deceased title XVI recipient
  • * Representative payee who has not relinquished conserved funds
  • * Representative payee who has misused title II or title XVI funds)
  • * Representative payee who has misapplied title XVI funds
  • * Person who owes civil monetary penalties and assessments
  • * Person who owes a court ordered penalty or restitution
  • * Attorney and non-attorney representatives who receive excess fees
  • * Person who fraudulently or erroneously obtains benefits
  • * Organizational payees
  • Overpayments and other debts will be recorded on the NED database in a series of releases to be determined in the future. Ultimately, the plans are to enable SSA to record and control debts owed by all types of NEDs. SSA intends to use all available, authorized debt collection methods to recover the debts:
  • C. Purpose
  • In order to take appropriate actions, SSA’s automated debt collection systems have always interfaced with an MBR or SSR for the debtor. In cases where the debtor did not have a master beneficiary record, debt collection required manual control and efforts.
  • The purpose of the NED initiative is to create an automated system for controlling debts (both overpayments and incorrect payments) owed by people who do not have master beneficiary records. Therefore, SSA developed the capability within the Debt Management System (DMS) to identify, record, collect, and otherwise resolve debts owed by NEDs.
  • The NED database will record Overpayments and other debts in a series of releases to be determined in the future. Ultimately, the plans are to enable SSA to record and control debts owed by all types of NEDs. SSA intends to use all available, authorized debt collection methods to recover the debts:
  • * Billing and follow-up via the Recovery and Collection of Overpayments (RECOOP) system;
  • * Benefit withholding if available;
  • * Treasury Offset Program/External Collection Operation (TOP/ECO) process to collect NED debts by means of tax refund offset (TRO), administrative offset, administrative wage garnishment (AWG), Federal Salary Offset (FSO) and any collection method subsequently added to TOP/ECO.
  • See Details
  • GN 02201.030 - Collection of Title II Overpayments by Tax Refund Offset (TRO)
  • GN 02201.030 Collection of Title II Overpayments by Tax Refund Offset (TRO)
  • GN 02201.040 – Collection of Title II/Title XVI Overpayments by Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG)
  • GN 02201.040 Collection of Title II/Title XVI Overpayments by Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG)
  • GN 02201.043 – Collection of Title II/Title XVI Overpayments by Federal Salary Offset (FSO)
  • GN 02201.043 Collection of Title II/Title XVI Overpayments by Federal Salary Offset (FSO)
  • In addition, SSA plans to report all NEDs to consumer reporting agencies.
  • C. Scope
  • The NED initiative will be developed in a series of releases. Currently, NED captures payments made to representative payees after the death of a title II beneficiary, and overpayments to representative payees prior to the death of the title II beneficiary for which the payee is responsible. For more detailed information about NED, see GN 02230.040.
  • The composition of subsequent releases will be determined in the future.
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