Effective Dates: 03/21/2025 - Present Previous | Next

TN 89 (03-25)

GN 02408.945 Partial Recovery or No Recovery of International Direct Deposit (IDD) Payments

A. Process for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) after partial recovery

If the reclamation request results in a partial recovery, FRBNY compares the returned payments with the amounts sent to the beneficiaries. For payments that were converted to local currency and returned in local currency, FRBNY converts the amounts to U.S. dollars. If this is a partial payment return, FRBNY uses a pseudo trace number to return the amount and notifies the Office of Earnings and International Operations (OEIO) of the return. FRBNY forwards all returned payments and partial payments to SSA through the Department of the Treasury (Treasury).

B. Process for FRBNY after no recovery

If the financial institution (FI) does not respond, or if FRBNY does not receive the money, FRBNY:

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    Notifies OEIO that the case is closed; and

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    Forwards to OEIO any information from the FI regarding the estate or survivors.

C. Process for OEIO after partial recovery

If the reclamation request results in partial recovery, OEIO takes the following actions.

1. Partial payment return

If the returned amount includes an amount that is less than a full payment amount, OEIO does the following.

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    Enters information regarding the returned partial payment amount on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR)/Payment History Update System (PHUS) record, using the information provided by FRBNY. IMPORTANT: If OEIO does not enter the partial return, it will not show on the record, and later diaries may cause OEIO to request reclamation of the same funds.

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    Places this message on the MBR: “FRBNY closed reclamation (date).”

2. Remaining incorrect payment less than tolerance

If the remaining incorrect payment amount is less than $30, OEIO processes any manual return resulting from the partial refund, and takes no further action.

3. Remaining incorrect payment exceeds tolerance

If the remaining incorrect payment amount is $30 or more, OEIO:

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    Places this message on the MBR: “FRBNY closed reclamation (date).”

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    Processes any manual return and determines whether there is an entitled survivor who did not share the same direct deposit arrangements.

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    Sends a letter to the highest ranking beneficiary on the record. The letter should contain language similar to that included in GN 02408.950.

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    Diaries the case for 60 days. If they receive no refund, they take similar actions with other entitled beneficiaries on the record, in descending order.

D. Process for OEIO after no recovery

If no refund is forthcoming from entitled survivors (or if there are no entitled survivors), OEIO does the following:

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    Places this message on the MBR: “FRBNY closed reclamation case (date)”;

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    Sends a letter requesting refund to the last known residence address of the deceased beneficiary, addressed to the "Executor of the Estate of (name of the beneficiary)." When the letter is directed to the Executor of the Estate, OEIO eliminates paragraph 4 from the sample letter in GN 02408.950;

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    Diaries for 30 days;

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    Suspends further recovery efforts if the letter is returned as undeliverable; and

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    Deletes the overpayment from the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) and reduces the overpayment amount on ROAR to zero.

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0202408945
GN 02408.945 - Partial Recovery or No Recovery of International Direct Deposit (IDD) Payments - 03/21/2025
Batch run: 03/21/2025
Rev:03/21/2025