The Small Business Administration (SBA) approved 3,095 loans totaling $333 million for borrowers listed as 115 years or older in the Social Security database between 2020 and 2021, according to a post on Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) official X account on Sunday.
Among the recipients was a borrower officially recorded as 157 years old, who received a $36,000 loan. The D.O.G.E. labeled these records as part of a massive federal fraud scheme.
During the same period, the SBA granted 5,593 loans worth $312 million to businesses allegedly owned by children aged 11 or younger. While some legal business structures allow minors to be listed as owners, all 5,593 cases had a common red flag—each loan application used a Social Security number (SSN) that did not match the name on file.
Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is reinstating full benefit cuts for seniors who were previously overpaid, reversing a Biden-era policy that capped clawbacks at 10% of monthly benefits.
The SSA aims to recover $7 billion over the next decade through this policy change, which is set to take effect on March 27.
“We have the significant responsibility to be good stewards of the trust funds for the American people,” said Leland Dudek, SSA’s acting commissioner. “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding.”
Under the Biden administration, SSA limited overpayment recovery to 10% of a recipient’s Social Security check to prevent seniors from losing their entire income at once. The new policy could reduce some seniors’ monthly benefits to zero, even if the overpayment was caused by SSA errors.
Former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley criticized the move, warning that cutting SSA staff has increased errors and made it harder to correct them.
“This return to the 100% interruption and clawback of a beneficiary’s monthly payments will inflict dire financial hardship on greater numbers of innocent seniors who depend entirely on their monthly Social Security benefit to survive,” O’Malley said.
As investigations into federal loan fraud and Social Security repayment policies continue, concerns are growing over financial mismanagement and the impact on vulnerable Americans.