I have been approved for SSD or SSI and will be receiving backpay. I will have a payee can my backpay be garnished for student loans? Is there anything I can do ? I will be homeless if this happens. Will they take all of it or can they only take a portion?

excon

Hello j:

SSI can't be garnished.

excon

JudyKayTee

Back child support and student loans are the exception to the rule that SS benefits cannot be garnisheed - they can take 15% out of every check.

Here's the Court case (which is a lot of blah, blah, blah but informative): "Unfortunately for you, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided in December 2005 that the government can seize Social Security benefits to pay off old student loans, in Lockhart v. U.S. (546 U.S.(04-881) 2005). The plaintiff in that case was a 67-year old retiree unemployed since 1981 and disabled after double heart bypass surgery and related health problems. He lived solely on his $874 monthly benefits. He had incurred $80,000 of student loans to attend various colleges back in the 1980s. When notified his benefits would be cut by 15 percent to repay his loans, he acted as his own attorney and filed an injunction action in federal court to block the Social Security offsets. The trial judge dismissed his case and that ruling was affirmed in Lockhart's appeal to the 9th Circuit court. He succeeded in getting the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, but it unanimously affirmed the prior ruling."

jrucker7

Thank you for answering, I appreciate it, however, I did find out that it can be garnished...read the next answer. jrucker7

Fr_Chuck

Yes I do believe a few other government debts can also be gotten, but I would say they will get 15 percent of the check, and 15 percent of every check till it is paid.

jrucker7

Thank you very much!