When Alex Vukovich noticed his January check from Social Security had suddenly disappeared from his account, the bank had an unusual explanation.
According to the federal government, Vukovich was dead.
More than a month later, the Aurora man still is fighting to reinstate his checks, and can’t seem to get a clear answer on whether the Social Security Administration recognizes that he hasn’t joined the dearly departed.
His bank returned the $1,928 it had removed from his account after he visited a branch and proved he was still alive, Vukovich said. But he hasn’t received his February check and isn’t sure if the March one will come.
“I’m fortunate, because I have enough in savings to compensate,” he said.
The Social Security Administration estimated that less than 0.33% of the 3.1 million death reports it receives each year need corrections. Most reports come from the states, but family members, funeral homes, federal agencies and financial institutions report some deaths, it said.
If someone suspects they’ve been wrongly listed as dead, they should go to their local Social Security office with at least one current form of identification, the agency said.
“Social Security takes immediate action to correct our records and we can provide a letter that the error has been corrected that can be shared with other organizations,” the agency said in a statement, declining to specifically address Vukovich’s situation.
The Social Security Administration distributes about $1.3 trillion a year in retirement benefits to roughly 59 million Americans who paid into the system during their working years.
After noticing the money from his check was missing on Jan. 22, Vukovich estimated he spent about three hours on hold with Social Security to notify them of the mistake. The customer service person whom he spoke with said the most likely explanation was that someone had made a typo when reporting another person’s death.
An employee in Social Security’s Aurora office said Vukovich would get his next check on Feb. 26, so he assumed they’d fixed the problem and set about notifying his health insurance company and credit card issuers that he was still very much alive.
Then he received a letter Feb. 25 that said he’d received an overpayment in January and wouldn’t get a check for Feburary. That triggered another call to the Social Security Administration, and another hours-long wait. The person he spoke with couldn’t explain what had gone wrong, but said the funds would show up in his account in 24 to 48 hours.
“I was totally amazed that it still wasn’t fixed,” he said.
But the money still wasn’t there on Monday. He called again, and the customer service representative recommended he visit the Aurora office. After about two hours in line, an employee told him that the computer system showed he was alive, but he’d have to make an in-person appointment before they could send his checks. The next available appointment wasn’t until March 14.
Since late January, Vukovich said he spoke to nine people in either the local or national Social Security offices, five of whom told him they’d fixed the problem. He isn’t sure what’s gone wrong, but suspects that widespread layoffs in the federal government aren’t helping. The Social Secutity Administration has yet to make large cuts, but announced Friday that it will lay off 7,000 people.
“Now I’m worried about whether I’m going to get my March or April check,” he said.
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