Retention Date: November 01, 2023
Revisions:
Section B: Added statement, that the second phase of lockbox mail redirection is paused.
A. Purpose:
This emergency message (EM) provides instructions on handling remittances processed through the Department of the Treasury’s lockbox services managed by U.S. Bank.
B. Background:
As of May 3, 2022, the second phase of redirecting mail for lockbox is paused.
On January 29, 2021, SSA implemented the use of a lockbox to add efficiencies in the agency’s processing of paper programmatic remittances. Lockbox banking is a service provided by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and their financial agent, U.S. Bank, for the receipt of programmatic remittances from customers.
In the initial phase, we changed the return address on the Recovery and Collection of Overpayment Process (RECOOP) notices to redirect remittances to the U.S. Bank lockbox, instead of the Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center (MATPSC) Remittance Accounting Unit. The U.S. Bank lockbox address is:
Social Security Administration
P. O. Box 5480
Portland, OR 97228-9816
Beginning November 1, 2021, United States Postal Service (USPS) redirected all mail intended for MATPSC’s P.O. Box 3430 to the above-referenced U.S. Bank address. U.S. Bank received remittances as the result of the following system generated notices with a payment coupon:
| Notice Name | Notice # | System |
N/A | 647-S | Aurora |
N/A | N/A | Title 2-Redesign |
Cessation 1 + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Cessation 2 + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Cessation 3 | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Reinstatement + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Suspension + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Termination 1 + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Termination 2 + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Termination 3 + Aux | N/A | TATTER EPE |
Expedited Reinstatement Initial Review Period + Reinstatement and Suspense Auxiliaries | N/A | TATTER EPE |
0589 Remittance Receipt | N/A | ROAR |
2513 Remittance Reminder |  | ROAR |
3926 Cross Program Adjustment | N/A | ROAR |
Conserved Funds Reminder | N/A | ROAR |
Notice Type 1 | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI | ECO |
Notice Type 2 | SSA-L3252-SM-II | ECO |
Notice Type 8 | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI-AO | ECO |
Notice Type 9 | SSA-L3252-SM-CB | ECO |
Notice Type A | SSA-L3252-SM-AO | ECO |
Notice Type B | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI-CB | ECO |
Notice Type C | SSA-L3252-SM-II-AWG | ECO |
Notice Type D | SSA-L3252-SM-AO-AWG-NED | ECO |
Notice Type E | SSA-L3252-SM-CB-AWG-NED | ECO |
Notice Type F | SSA-L3252-SM-II-NED | ECO |
Notice Type G | SSA-L3252-SM-NED | ECO |
Notice Type H | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI-AWGC | ECO |
Notice Type I | SSA-L3252-SM-II-AWGC | ECO |
Notice Type J | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI-FSO | ECO |
Notice Type K | SSA-L3252-SM-II-FSO | ECO |
Notice Type L | SSA-L3252-SM-II-FSO-NED | ECO |
Notice Type N | SSA-L3252-SM-II-TRO-AO | ECO |
Notice Type O | SSA-L3252-SM-XVI-TRO-AO | ECO |
Notice Type P | SSA-L3252-SM-II-TRO-AO-NED | ECO |
Notice Type Q | SSA-L3252-SM | ECO |
SSI Daily | SSA-8170/SSA-53-EP/SSA-8171/SSA-8172 | Notice of Overpayment |
e-RPA | SSA-623/SSA-6234/SSA-6230 | Representative Payee Final Accounting forms |
e-RPA | L-732 | Representative Payee Final Accounting Request for Information Letter |
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The lockbox will continue to receive paper checks submitted via Online Bill Pay (OLBP) services that could not be submitted electronically.
The redirection of these remittances is performed by the USPS, and there is no change to the address information on the notice or payment coupon.
C. Lockbox Remittance Processing
The lockbox service will process single checks with a single coupon or single checks with multiple coupons. These coupons are part of the overpayment billing notices sent to debtors. Any cash received will be processed using a cashier’s check as a substitute item for the cash payment.
Remittance data is captured, using high-speed scanning equipment, and transmitted to the agency daily. U.S. Bank will image the front and back of the remittances, image the front and back of any associated remittance documents and transmit the images to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (FRB Cleveland) for viewing and individual check download via Electronic Check Processing (ECP).
ECP is a web-based, client facing application that acts as a data and image repository. Federal government agencies and their financial agents use ECP to view and research transactions.
D. Returns from the Lockbox
Any item that U.S. Bank cannot process will be forwarded daily, via United Parcel Service (UPS) overnight mail, to MATPSC. This includes the following items:
· Payments without a coupon;
· Unbalanced single check/multi-coupon payments;
· Payments with multiple checks/single coupon;
· Credit card payments (including SSA-4588);
· Medicare premium installment payments;
· AURORA notices and payments;
· Medicare Premium Installment Payments;
· OLBP checks;
· Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG) checks;
· Other
E. Post Transaction Record Updates
U.S. Bank will include an Individual Reference Number (IRN) in the daily detail file for all remittances processed by the Lockbox. An IRN is a unique number generated by U.S. Bank sent to Treasury’s central information repository. This will assist in processing check returns and check adjustments.
As a result, the IRN ‘LCK########’ will appear in the ‘Receipt Number’ field on the daily detail file and in the Receipt Number field of the REQD screen in DMS. The number will be the last 8 digits of the IRN. The IRN will identify the transaction as originating from the lockbox, rather than MATPSC. Technicians should still use the SSN to search for remittance records.
Direct all program-related and technical questions to your Regional Office (RO) support staff or Program Service Center (PSC) Operations Analysis (OA) staff. They may refer questions, concerns or problems to their Central Office contacts.
Reference: