GN 02408: Stop Payments and Reclamations

Effective Dates: 09/18/2013 - Present

TN 18 (11-08)

A. General

Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) provides a NED report to alert SSA when one or more Title II or Title XVI electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments dated after the beneficiary's/recipient’s death have not been included with the payments transmitted to the Department of the Treasury (DT) for reclamation; i.e., an E-stop has not been placed on them.

IMPORTANT: Access is limited to specific users within the agency. Only one or two people in each processing center (PC) and regional office (RO) access and take action on this report.

When the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) receives an E-stop or claim of non-entitlement due to death, PACER takes the date of death and searches the PACER database for any additional payments for the payee that were made after the date of death but were not included with an E-stop. PACER provides screens that allow us to go into PACER and view the cases within our jurisdiction.

These items orbit until all additional payments are submitted through the normal claims process or the SSA user takes action to release the reclamation without the additional payments. These cases are monitored, and after 60 days, if all the NED payments have not been sent in or the case has not been manually released, PACER automatically releases the reclamation with those payments that have come in with E-stops. No additional payments are included later, unless they are payments that become eligible because of a change in the date of death.

The information is organized by Agency Location Code (ALC), one for each processing center for the Title II cases and one ALC for the Title XVI cases. The Title XVI ALC belongs to the Division of Benefit Certification and Accounting at Central Office. For a list of ALC codes, see Section 7-110 Program Service Centers (PSCs) – Overview.

DT does not determine whether a payment is due. The NED report enables the SSA component to review the list of payments issued after death and to determine whether any of the highlighted payments still requiring a decision should be included in the reclamation request.

For each beneficiary/recipient, the file contains the following information for each payment for which a reclamation was requested by SSA and for any other payment after the date of death:

SSN
Date of Death
Name
Payment Date
Payment Amount
RTN (routing number to which the payment was sent)
Trace Number.

B. Policy

1. When a new NED report is on PACER

The RO (for Title XVI) or the PC (for Title II) examines all of the items within its jurisdiction and determines how each EFT item should be processed. Any item that was due the recipient should not be reclaimed. Any item that was not due must be reclaimed. The RO/PC sometimes requests field office (FO) assistance if there is a discrepancy on the records, if the deceased was a member of an SSI couple’s case, or if there was a representative payee.

2. For Title XVI

A payment is due when the recipient was otherwise eligible for the EFT payment and was alive on any portion of the payment date, including an early payment date. A type 2 or 4 payment is due when the recipient was otherwise eligible for the payment and was alive on any portion of the date the payment was issued, according to the date shown on the SSID.

3. For Title II

A payment is due when the beneficiary was otherwise eligible for the EFT payment and was alive after the final day of the month for which it was paid. When an early payment date is involved, the payment is due when the beneficiary was otherwise eligible for the payment and died on or after the early payment date. For a PMA payment, when only a portion of the payment is due, reclaim the payment. The portion that is due is treated as an underpayment.

C. Procedure for how to use the NED report

The RO/PC checks PACER to view the listed EFT items on the NED report and decides whether to reclaim them.

1. Highlighted payment is not due

The RO/PC must include the highlighted payment with the reclamation because the payment was not due. This action cannot be taken on this screen/report. The RO/PC must exit the report and input the E-stop in SSA’s system manually for that payment.

Manually input prior monthly accrual (PMA) amounts not due AND reclaimable in the special payment amount/overpayment (SPA O/P) field on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR).

2. Highlighted payment is due

When the RO/PC does not wish to include the highlighted payment with the reclamation request because the payment is due, press F4. F4 triggers PACER to release the reclamation without the highlighted payment.

3. NED report contains highlighted payments for the same beneficiary/recipient

When the NED report contains some highlighted payments that are due and some that are not for the same beneficiary/recipient, take the following action in this order:

For the highlighted payments that are not due, exit the report and manually input the E-stop for those payments.
Wait 48 hours.
Check the NED report to see if the payments with the newly input E-stops are now listed on the report to be reclaimed; i.e., they are no longer highlighted. If so, proceed with the next step. If not, check the report the next day.
For the highlighted payments that are due, press F4 to send the reclamation request to Treasury. These due payments will not be reclaimed.

IMPORTANT: The NED report containing payments requiring action for the beneficiary or recipient is only available in PACER for 60 days. Take any necessary action before that deadline. After 60 days, Fiscal Service transmits the reclamation request to the FI.

4. Title XVI

The RO checks to see if the recipient is deceased on the SSI record (SSR).

IMPORTANT: To be accurately interpreted, apply this table from top to bottom. If you skip an earlier step, you may take the wrong action.

	IF:	AND IF:	THEN:
1	The SSR shows that one or both of the following is true: This is a couple’s case, or The deceased recipient had a representative payee,	__	The RO presses F4 to release the reclamation without the payment(s). The FO recovers the payments from the other member of the couple or from the representative payee.
2	There is no date of death (DOD) on the SSR,	There is no Title II record, OR There is also no DOD on the Title II record,	The RO presses F4 to release the reclamation without the payment(s). (Can occur when there is an erroneous death on the record.)
3	There is no DOD on the SSR,	The Title II record shows a DOD,	The RO asks the FO to resolve the discrepancy. If the DOD is correct and the NED shows highlighted payments requiring a decision, the RO should determine whether the payment(s) should be sent for reclamation. If yes, input an E-stop manually. If no, press F4 to release the reclamation without the payment(s).
4	There is a DOD on the SSR,	The Title II record agrees with the SSR,	The RO compares the DOD on the record with the one on the NED report. If the DOD is correct and the NED shows highlighted payments requiring a decision, the RO should determine whether the payment(s) should be sent for reclamation. If yes, input an E-stop manually. If no, press F4 to release the reclamation without the payment(s).
5	The DOD on the SSR matches the DOD on the NED,	The date of issue of the payment on the SSR (for a type 2 or 4 payment), or the payment date (for a recurring payment), is on or before the DOD,	The payment is due and should not be reclaimed. The RO presses F4 to release the reclamation without the payment(s). NOTE: It is important to be alert for early payment dates. If the payment is due, do not reclaim.
6	The DOD on the SSR matches the DOD on the NED,	The date of issue of the payment on the SSR (for a type 2 or 4 payment), or the payment date (for a recurring payment), is after the DOD,	The payment is not due. The RO/FO does a manual E-stop for this payment. NOTE: It is important to be alert for early payment dates. If the recipient is alive for any portion of the early payment date, the money is due and should not be reclaimed.
7	A highlighted payment listed on the NED is due,	Other highlighted payments that are not due are listed on the NED for that recipient,	The RO/PC... inputs a manual E-stop on the payments not due; waits at least 48 hours.; checks the NED to ensure the payments that SSA input E-stops are listed but no longer highlighted; and returns to the NED report and presses F4 to release the reclamation request without the one due payment.
8	A highlighted payment listed on the NED is on a prior SSI record,	The payment is due,	The RO presses F4 to release the reclamation without the payment.

5. Title II

The PC checks to see if the beneficiary is deceased on the MBR.