Expert's View

I’ve received a lot of e-mails from irate employees who have made (or are making) deposits to get credit for periods of service in determining their eligibility to retire and in their annuity computation. They have two complaints. One is that OPM shut down part of the system that records these deposits, thus leaving them in the dark. The other is that they may owe more or less than OPM originally told them. But they haven’t been told which.

The culprit is OPM’s computer system, which, through some programming errors, has led some employees to be charged more interest than they should be and some less. Finding out who owes and who is owed has been a nightmare.

While the problem hasn’t yet been resolved, OPM says that it "will prepare and deliver corrected statements to all active account holders showing whether you owe additional monies or are due a refund." In the interim, updated statements can’t be provided.

So, what can you do?

If you need a paid-in-full receipt, a balance due receipt, or proof that a payment you made has been received, you’ll need to send a request by e-mail to scredeipts@opm.gov, being sure to include your name, date of birth and CSD Claim Number. A response will be sent to you by e-mail.

If you want to make a payment before everything is sorted out, you can do so either by sending a check made out to the Office of Personnel Management, P.O. Box 979035, St. Louis, MO 53197-9000 or paying online at www.pay.gov. Be sure to include your name, date of birth and CSD Claim Number.

On the other hand, if you want to stop payments being taken out of your savings or checking account, go to www.opm.gov, click on Find Form(s) and download a copy of RI 16-28. Be sure to check the Discontinue Pre-Authorization Payment Service box; then mail the form to the address above, marked to the attention of Direct Payment Program.

If you filled out an application to make a deposit or redeposit and mailed it to OPM but haven’t heard a word from them, send an email to scbillings@opm.gov along with your name and date of birth. They’ll get back to you by e-mail.

Well, that’s the story for now. I’ll keep you posted.