Social Security nightmare: From owing $1,500 online to $8,000 after just two phone calls

Getting a letter in the mail saying you owe money is not a pleasant experience. But then every time you try to find out why, you get told that you owe even more can be exasperating as one young man found out. Tyler Lima-Roope, a 28-year-old LA-based content creator bringing the disabled experience to the forefront, shared in a recent social media post his ordeal with the Social Security Administration.

His travails began back in March when he got a letter in the mail from the agency telling him that he owed $1,500. As anyone in his situation would do, he called to find out what was behind the mystery debt. However, that just led to an even bigger bill and that they said they couldn’t tell him the reason why he owed the money.

“Every time I call them, they’re just gonna double it”

When Lima-Roope talked to a SSA representative on the phone, he was told that instead of the$1,500 amount stated in the letter he got, he actually owed $4,000. The person he spoke to told him that he would need to make an appointment to find out what was behind the surprise debt.

He set up the appointment which was to take place a month later. In the meantime he began speaking to everyone he could, his local representative and advocacy groups, to have support when dealing with the SSA. When the appointment rolled around, he got a new shock, “Yeah, you don’t owe us $4,000. You owe us $8,000,” he was told.

“Now I’m really panicking, because I feel like every time I call them, they’re just gonna double it,” he recounted in the video he posted. He pressed the SSA representative to tell him why he owed money and they finally relented, saying that they had spoken to his mother and an issue with his living arrangements from two years ago had come up.

“Not only did I know this is not true. But legally, they cannot just talk to my mom without me there. I’m 28,” he explains. He arranged to get an in-person appointment to solve the matter as he wasn’t getting anywhere on the phone.

Typically, when you receive a decision from the Social Security Administration you are given 60 days to appeal it. However, the agency is down over 8,000 employees since Elon Musk’s DOGE implemented sweeping cuts under the Trump administration. This has led to staff feeling ever more overworked and people have been experiencing problems getting an appointment at an office.

Lima-Roope explains that the in-person appointment he received to resolve what was happening was 58 days after he received his letter. Fortunately, an advocacy group had already filed an appeal for him and he had had time to get his “ducks in a row.”

He showed up to the appointment “armed to the teeth” with documents, an advocacy group in his back pocket, and his mother. He says that he initially received some pushback from the SSA representative, but that he “finally got through to the person,” thanks to all the work that he had put in.

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