Federal pension

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by marc515

The $1K deduction is more than likely a "catch up", and the monthly deduction going forward will be lower. For CSRS, each year of the "Post 56 Deposit" adds an additional year to your pension. If you don't make the deposit, your pension will be reduced 2% for each year of military service when you hit age 62. So if you have a $5K/month pension, and had 3 years military time you didn't pay back, your pension would be reduced approximately $300/month. However, the reduction for FERS is 1%. Since the OP is both CSRS and FERS, he has some combination of reduction.

I'm presuming since the OP indicated he's been receiving SS for 1-1/2 years now, it took OPM 18 months to catch up with the required reduction; so, $1,000/18 should equate to somewhere around a $55/month reduction.

Here's an excellent article on the Military pay back:
Military Service Payback - Retirement Planning - Pay & Benefits - GovExec.com

My reductions to my pension since Jan 2012 have amounted to a permanent reduction of $1000 a month. I have had 2 reductions in that time frame. The first was when I got my first SS payment. OPM at that time removed my Fers annunity permanently. The May 2013 reduction that I found by going on online banking was $685 (permanent not a one time reduction) So the combination of reductions has now reached $1000. Unfortunately I have another one that I listed in the update below. That one will mean the end of any annuity payment to me.

[marc515]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

My reductions to my pension since Jan 2012 have amounted to a permanent reduction of $1000 a month. I have had 2 reductions in that time frame. The first was when I got my first SS payment. OPM at that time removed my Fers annunity permanently. The May 2013 reduction that I found by going on online banking was $685 (permanent not a one time reduction) So the combination of reductions has now reached $1000. Unfortunately I have another one that I listed in the update below. That one will mean the end of any annuity payment to me.

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

I'm beyond disgusted and I have had it. They make me feel like I am crooked and have been stealing from them all these years. When they compute my annuity payment and I never have contact or correspondence from them. Other than when health ins goes up or COL increase. I have nothing to do with authorizing what payment they send me. None of us do. I can't possibly pay them and I will not. I think they are thiefs and I have absolutely no trust in their operation. Who could blame me. They could give me any figure and demand I pay it.

I do feel bad for your situation. When you retired you should have gotten a little booklet from OPM which outlined your pension and how they calculated it.

I know you are frustrated, but OPM is not a thief; the employees who work there are civil service employees like you were and are trying to do their jobs as best as possible. In your case, it appears the only misstep they made was to not catch your military reduction in a more timely manner, but it is money you owe for not making the military deposit.

How many years military did you have? Each year amounts to a 2% reduction, and if $685/month($8220/year) is your permanent reduction for military time, you must have a good pension, and I'm not sure how the additional $114 would mean an end to your annunity? Somehow the math is not adding up.

Going to your Congressman's office is good move, but I suggest you take a deep breath, and try to put your frustration aside. Dig back through all your paperwork and try to gain an understanding as to what's going on with your pension, as it's the only way you will know for sure if their computations for the reductions are spot on. Go to OPM.gov/retire and do alot of reading and learning.

[Jimrob1]

Well maybe this will help. I did not have a big annuity payment to begin with. Not all Civil Service people do, especially if they have also worked in the private sector. It was rather small. Without being all that personal with amounts. Mine was definitely not several thousand dollars a month. It was far less, but it was money I combined with my SS payment. Its money I lived on and planned my budget in life. I did just fine on what I had to live with in life. My annuity payment now will not even be $100 a month. Constant reductions and not being informed does take a heavy toll on a person. I'm sorry to disagree with you on OPM in my case. I think they have been very disrespectful and callous in the manner this was handled. Every retiree should be notified by mail of such a catastrophic loss of income. Especially when a $11,000 overpayment thru their neglect is involved. Still they did not mention this at all on the phone when I asked for an explanation. A retiree should not have to be begging on the phone for a letter of explanation after the fact. That in itself shows they really just don't care and at this age. That is elder abuse as far as I'm concerned. My whole life changes now abruptly and I cannot pay my living expenses as I did just a month ago. Had I known this was coming after 14 years of retirement. I would have been prepared for such a huge loss of monthly income that I cannot possibly replace now. I would have known OPM was reducing the pension at this point in life, and sending a bill for $11,000. But I got no notifications. So yes I am mad. I think OPM could have told me this quite along time ago rather than penalize me so abruptly and continuously in this manner. That's all I asked for was to be treated respectfully, and given the appropriate information before such reductions took place. Not by my going on online banking and finding out that way. .

[marc515]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

Well maybe this will help. I did not have a big annuity payment to begin with. Not all Civil Service people do, especially if they have also worked in the private sector. It was rather small. Without being all that personal with amounts. Mine was definitely not several thousand dollars a month. It was far less, but it was money I combined with my SS payment. Its money I lived on and planned my budget in life. I did just fine on what I had to live with in life. My annuity payment now will not even be $100 a month. Constant reductions and not being informed does take a heavy toll on a person. I'm sorry to disagree with you on OPM in my case. I think they have been very disrespectful and callous in the manner this was handled. Every retiree should be notified by mail of such a catastrophic loss of income. Especially when a $11,000 overpayment thru their neglect is involved. Still they did not mention this at all on the phone when I asked for an explanation. A retiree should not have to be begging on the phone for a letter of explanation after the fact. That in itself shows they really just don't care and at this age. That is elder abuse as far as I'm concerned. My whole life changes now abruptly and I cannot pay my living expenses as I did just a month ago. Had I known this was coming after 14 years of retirement. I would have been prepared for such a huge loss of monthly income that I cannot possibly replace now. I would have known OPM was reducing the pension at this point in life, and sending a bill for $11,000. But I got no notifications. So yes I am mad. I think OPM could have told me this quite along time ago rather than penalize me so abruptly and continuously in this manner. That's all I asked for was to be treated respectfully, and given the appropriate information before such reductions took place. Not by my going on online banking and finding out that way. .

The only reason I thought you might have a large pension is the $685/month reduction for your military service; that is a very large deduction for a "few years" of military service. How many years of military service did you have?

I can also understand your disdain with OPM; something is wrong, and you deserved proper notification, and decent assistance.

Somehow the math on your military deduction is not making sense. As I indicated above, for the CSRS portion of your annuity, each year of military service you did not make a deposit for equates to a 2% reduction at age 62, and if $685/month($8220/year) is your permanent reduction for military time, something is way-way off.

Again, I understand your frustration with OPM, but at this point you need to own yoour pension, and do some major digging and gain a full understanding of your pension and the math. If you don't own it, you will not know if what they are doing is accurate. You could look around yoour area and see if there is an accountant smart in federal pensions who could help you out.

Have you posted on federalsoup? there are a lot of knowledgeable folks there.

Have you been able to log on to OPM Services on line yet? If so, you should be able to look back at your monthly annuity statements. I do not understand why you haven’t been getting notices; I get a notice every time I change an allotment, taxes, etc. deduction, so that’s something else you’ll need to get straightened out.

I wish you the best of luck getting this resolved, and please keep us posted as this moves forward. It is interesting to say the least.