Overpayment Waiver Eligibility Criteria

Overpayment waiver eligibility hinges on two main factors: whether the error was partly or entirely the agency's fault, and whether repaying the full amount would cause you undue hardship—though most programs also require you to have acted in good faith when you received the benefits. Age, disability, medical needs, and extreme poverty all strengthen a hardship claim, while deliberate misrepresentation or failure to report known changes severely weakens it. Documenting your circumstances and the government's role in the error is what transforms a waiver request from denial-likely to approvable.