The NFL reminds us to trust, yet verify

As the Bears season rapidly came to a close, I was surprised to see 1950’s defensive alumnus John Helwig in the news, not because the defense was the only saving grace, but rather John passed 17 years ago.  The AP reported that his wife, Ruth, told officials that her husband was still alive twice.  After Ruth passed in 2007, his daughter continued to collect funds for an additional 6 years.  In total the NFL was left with a tab of  more than $200,000. 

I wanted to see if this situation was preventable.  Perhaps Mr. Helwig’s passing went under the radar of the state and federal government.  However, using Berwyn’s Quick Look-Up solution with his first name, last name, and date of birth, it was easy to see that John’s passing was noted by the State of Michigan’s Dept. of Health and Vital Statistics and the Social Security Administration (SSA). 

The other two points of interest are: the SSA record listed zip code and the date of death was 00.  Zip codes were regularly released by the SSA, however with the changes to the Death Master File on 11/1/2011 zip codes were stripped as a field.  Additionally, records were stripped of the date of death, for a brief period of time as a security measure before it was realized that there was no security benefit it doing so. To this day though there are frequently differences between the date of death provided by the state and federal governments.  With the zip code included and a date of death of 12/00/1994 indicates that the NFL could have easily prevented this over payment early on by checking records.

Government Mail Forwarding: IRS, SSA and the Post Office

As the leading provider of an address clean up solution, we have received many questions about the various mail forwarding services provided by the US Government.  As of August 31, 2012 according to IRS Revenue Procedure 2012-25, the IRS will no longer forward mail.  “Locating a missing taxpayer who may be entitled to a retirement plan payment or other financial benefit from an individual, company or organization is not considered to be a humane purpose for which the IRS will provide letter-forwarding services.”  The major reason is the number of alternatives both online and through third parties that rendered the IRS mail forwarding an unneeded expense for taxpayers.

The SSA still continues to operate a mail forwarding program.  There are several requirements in addition to the $35 per letter fee.  All letters need to be provided to the SSA in an open envelope to be read before mailing. There will be no confirmation of delivery.  No addresses will be given to the organization to update their records. Finally you must provide place of birth, mother’s full maiden name and the father's full name.  The SSA is up front in the fact that it does not want to perform this service on their website, ”Because this service is not related in any way to a Social Security program, its use must be limited so that it does not interfere with our regular program activities.”http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/html/ltrfwding.htm   

Finally the US post office will forward mail for six months on be half of individuals.  If that individual chooses for a fee they can be extend the mail forwarding for an additional 6 months.  In all likely hood most individuals, don't choose the extension. Anecdotally, a number of organizations have seen individuals updating the bank or their phone company and expecting that their address will be updated universally.  

If you would like more information on Berwyn’s Address Check solution click here or email me at mike@berwyngroup.com.