(NewsNation) — The Social Security Administration is reinstating its plan to reclaim 100% of overpayments made to beneficiaries — a ten-fold jump from the current rate, the agency announced Friday.

By asking for 100% of overpayments to be repaid by recipients, the agency could save about $7 billion over the next decade, the Office of the Chief Actuary estimated. The new rate will take effect March 27.

“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,” Dudek said.

Improper Social Security payments

The SSA discarded its 100% per paycheck policy — in favor of 10%, set by Biden — last year after years of improper payments left some beneficiaries grappling with massive repayment bills, drawing media and political ire.

One instance cited in a 2024 report from the Office of the Inspector General found that the SSA overpaid a disability beneficiary by about $62,000.

The SSA learned of the mistake in June 2021, after the beneficiary had already received an extra $9,000 over four months, but the administration did not take action to collect the overpayment until May 2023. By then, the beneficiary had received an additional $53,000, according to the Office of the Inspector General.

With a 100% withholding rate reinstated, recipients like those would likely see their payments mostly or entirely withheld for repayment purposes.

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

DOGE downsizes Social Security

The SSA hasn’t been spared from the Department of Government Efficiency’s budget cuts and downsizing plans.

The latest round of cuts saw the immediate or planned closure of 47 Social Security offices across the country. The southeastern U.S. was hit the hardest, with almost half of all closures taking place in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

DOGE leader Elon Musk also falsely claimed that millions of dead beneficiaries were receiving monthly checks in “the biggest fraud in history.”

It’s true that records with incomplete death information have plagued the agency, but a 2023 agency inspector general report found “almost none” of the 18.9 million people listed as 100 or older were receiving benefits.

“What Musk has tweeted is not primarily an example of fraud but more like the messy databases kept by Social Security,” said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

In a February news release, the agency said all its employees had been told to prepare for “significant workforce reductions.”

Employees could be fired or redirected, while some positions could be eliminated completely.

“Reassignments may be involuntary and may require retraining for new workloads,” the release said.

NewsNation’s Patrick Djordjevic and Liz Jassin contributed to this report.