This story about an elderly #Tampa woman just breaks my heart, #Roomies. #MamieWalker is 84 years old and depends on her monthly social security check to survive.
But for the past two months, the government has given Mamie nothing except a letter claiming she owes them $224,414.50, @wfla reports. A letter from the Treasury Department claims she has been referred to them for “collection action” and explains up to 15% of each of her checks will be withheld to pay the debt.
The problem is, Mamie never went to college, or even learned to read or write because she had to go work as a child to support her family as a “field hand.” It was bad enough that Mamie didn’t receive her check in February or March, but to make matters worse, she received another letter stating she won’t receive another check until September 2031.
“I’ll probably be dead by then,” Mamie said. “I’m so scared. I don’t sleep at night because I’m so scared next week … my lights are going to be off.”
Mamie was dependent on her monthly social security check, which amounted to a little less than $1,500 each month.
Her son, Morrison Walker, stepped in to help his mother and says she hasn’t been able to pay rent or utilities and is at risk for losing her home.
“I work and I try my best to help her with her bills, but now this done happened and I have my own bills, and she don’t have no income and now they’re trying to put eviction on her house, her water bill skyrocketed, her lights are going to get cut off,” Walker said.
He added that he called social security multiple times and listened to “hold music” for hours only to have no one pick up. He also went to a local Social Security office and says he was told it sounds like fraud, but no one offered any help.
Her son brought the issue to WFLA and their segment, “Better Call Behnken” looked into it. They put in a call to the Social Security Administration and were told that someone would reach out to the family to investigate.
We’ll keep you posted on this story, Roommates.
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
