(NEXSTAR) – A major change in how the Social Security Administration (SSA) handles benefit overpayments is set to kick in Thursday.

Starting March 27, the Social Security Administration will start to withhold 100 percent of a person’s monthly benefit to recoup any outstanding overpayment amount. The current clawback rate, which was set by President Biden, is 10%.

The Office of the Chief Actuary estimates that the policy will translate to roughly $7 billion in savings over the next decade.

“We have the significant responsibility to be good stewards of the trust funds for the American people,” said Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of Social Security, in a statement. “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding, as it was during the Obama administration and first Trump administration, to properly safeguard taxpayer funds.”

While the policy is sold as a measure that’s crucial to make sure American taxpayer dollars are going to the right people, in the correct amount, there is concern over how the change may affect some seniors.

“The ‘clawback’ of payments is especially unfair to seniors who do not have external support to help manage their finances and track their benefits,” Shannon Benton, executive director of the Senior Citizens League, told CBS earlier this month.

The SSA notes that the new withholding rate will not apply to benefits paid before March 27, but anyone overpaid after Thursday will “automatically be placed in full recovery at a rate of 100 percent.” Payments won’t resume until the scheduled benefits match the overpayment amount.

Beneficiaries who are overpaid and are unable to afford losing their regular benefits during repayment are encouraged to request a lower rate at their local Social Security office, or by phone at (800) 772-1213.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency announced that dozens of local Social Security Administration offices across the country will be closing this year. The offices slated for closure are listed here.

The SSA has also notified workers of “significant workforce reductions” and said in a February press release that roughly 7,000 employees would be terminated.

On Tuesday, senators grilled Trump’s pick to head the administration, businessman and Wall Street veteran Frank Bisignano, about the recent cutbacks and the Trump administration’s ultimate plans for the vital SSA.

Democratic Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse pressed Bisignano, a self-proclaimed “DOGE person,” on recent reports of perceived attacks on the SSA.

“I think, ‘I’m not going to attack Social Security’ is a lie. So that’s step one, lie about it. Step two is discredit Social Security. Trump and [Elon] Musk have been lying loudly about imaginary Social Security fraud, which seems to me to be an effort to lower public confidence in the program,” said Whitehouse. “I think the motive is to discredit the system. Then you send in your Musk characters and you start them messing around in the operations of Social Security to damage it.”

When asked whether or not he would defend against such a scheme, Bisignano replied: “My job as a commissioner is to ensure that every beneficiary receives their payments on time, that disability claims are processed in the manner they should be.”

The Social Security Administration says it issues benefits each month to roughly 69 million Americans, including disabled workers, retired workers and children.