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Social Security Mistake Cost Widow $9,602

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON and ROD CHALLENGER, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8

Published: January 31, 2008

SPRING HILL - After her husband finally succumbed to the poison in his lungs and died in hospice care, 70-year-old Charlotte Foelster dutifully notified the Social Security Administration so the agency could adjust her benefits accordingly.

Somewhere in the mammoth bureaucracy, though, a clerk got the date of Richard Foelster's death wrong.

Someone entered it into a computer as Jan. 16, 2007.

It was Jan. 16, 2008.

So Charlotte Foelster's life has been a Kafkaesque nightmare ever since.

Erroneously thinking Foelster was collecting benefits she was not entitled to for a year, Social Security sucked $9,602 out of her bank account and put a hold on an additional $3,441, said her son, John Spoor, a Pinellas County sheriff's detective.

Her outstanding checks started to bounce and she found herself so strapped for cash her children had to tide her over, Spoor said. As of Wednesday, the situation has not been completely rectified, Spoor said, though he has contacted the agency as well as the offices of a local congressman and congresswoman.

A Social Security Administration representative declined to comment Wednesday, saying the agency would need a release from Foelster to discuss the matter.

'I Could Not Pay My Bills'

According to Spoor and Foelster, this is what happened:

The day after the death of Foelster's 80-year-old husband, a Merchant Marine who served in World War II, Spoor took her to the funeral home handling the arrangements, and the funeral home advised them to contact the Social Security Administration immediately. Spoor called and was told the issue was taken care of.

On Jan. 18, Foelster went to her bank and discovered what the agency was doing with her account.

"It made me very upset," Foelster told WFLA, News Channel 8. "There was nothing left in the bank, nothing. I wanted to pay all my bills and when I went in there, I was totally shocked, because I couldn't pay them. I could not pay my bills."

She then called her son, Spoor. He told her to go to the Social Security office in Port Richey and that he would meet her there.

She arrived at 3:20 p.m., but when he arrived at 3:40 p.m., he was told by a security guard he wouldn't be allowed in because the office was closed. The security guard said he was abiding by federal law and wasn't moved by the argument that Spoor was not there on his own account, but on his mother's, and that he was a lawman.

While her son stood outside, Foelster was told the agency couldn't help her unless it received a death certificate. Spoor got a death certificate from the funeral home Saturday, and he and his mother returned to the Social Security office Monday.

Legislators Get Involved

It was then a clerk discovered the wrong date had been entered. Spoor and Foelster were told it would take 30 to 60 days for the problem to be fixed. That was unsatisfactory, Spoor said. He started calling the offices of Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Republican who represents Florida's 5th District, and Rep. C.W. Bill Young, a Republican who represents Florida's 10th District.

The two offices started working together and contacted Washington, Spoor said.

An assistant manager at the Port Richey Social Security office told Spoor on Monday afternoon that the agency had received his and his mother's complaint, and the agency was working to fix the problem, Spoor said.

Foelster was offered a $999 check to help her out until the situation was fixed, and she and her son were told Foelster's bank would be contacted to straighten out the mess, including the overdraft charges, Spoor said. One of the checks that bounced was for the honor guard at her husband's military funeral in Bushnell.

As of Wednesday morning, however, the $9,602 taken by Social Security had not been returned, although the hold on the $3,441 had been removed, Spoor said. He was told by the bank that there was no discussion with Social Security regarding the overdraft charges.

Wednesday afternoon, Social Security told Spoor it had corrected the mistake, and was putting the $9,602 back in his mother's account.
Spoor is thankful he could help his mother, and he wonders what would have happened had she, or any other elderly woman, tried to address the error on their own. An image comes to mind, he said, of a woman walking home from that Social Security office without "enough money for a loaf of bread."

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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