What Happened?

If you received a government overpayment from Social Security, a veterans' loan, or another federal program, whether you can keep that money without paying it back depends heavily on which program sent it. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report describes how "equity and good conscience" waiver rules, which let agencies forgive repayment on fairness grounds, differ across federal programs. ​

These waiver authorities appear in more than 50 sections of federal law, and most require that the recipient did not contribute to creating the overpayment. Key differences include:

  • Social Security: The Social Security Administration (SSA) bars recovery of certain overpayments from recipients who were not at fault when collection would defeat the programs' purposes or offend equity and good conscience, and its rules treat detrimental reliance on an overpayment as a separate ground for waiver.
  • Federal student loans: No equity-and-good-conscience waiver authority applied to federal student loans as of the report's publication.
  • Veterans' loans: The Department of Veterans Affairs may waive qualifying debts after a default or loss of property when collection would be against equity and good conscience.

Why Does it Matter to Me?

The SSA estimated its old-age, survivors, and disability insurance programs sent out $9.3 billion in overpayments in fiscal year 2025. Some waivers are discretionary, and others mandatory, which affects whether an agency has a choice once a recipient meets the statutory conditions, and most of those conditions also require that the debtor did not contribute to the debt.

General federal debt-collection rules allow agencies to stop collection when a debtor cannot pay or when costs would exceed the amount owed, but they do not treat fairness or hardship alone as a reason to stop.

Both Sides, Now

Congress can add, change, limit, or eliminate fairness-based waiver authority, and each choice requires weighing relief from hardship against program integrity and federal costs.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that roughly $1.4 billion in work-related Disability Insurance overpayments were waived because beneficiaries were found not at fault, and warned that the Social Security Administration (SSA) could be granting waivers incorrectly in some cases. SSA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) told Congress that inconsistencies in how staff apply waiver policies can lead to inappropriate forgiveness and impede recovery of erroneous payments.

As of the report's publication, no equity-and-good-conscience waiver applied to federal student loans, and the Biden administration considered whether other programs' authorities could inform the Department of Education's use of its more general waiver authority.

What Happens Next?

As of the report's publication, no equity-and-good-conscience waiver applied to federal student loans, but the Education Department has a more general waiver authority. Congress could also tighten or eliminate existing waiver standards, and the CRS report frames each choice as a trade-off between easing hardship for recipients and protecting program funds.

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