Social Security has closed the Portland, Oregon, post office box that took repayments of overpaid benefits. Checks that reach it after Dec. 30 will be sent back to the sender, and the agency now wants repayments mailed to a box in Philadelphia. The change matters most to people whose overpayment notice still carries the old Portland address.
What Social Security changed
An internal emergency message to Social Security staff, EM-26035, says the agency retired its Programmatic Remittance Lockbox #5480 on Sept. 30, 2026. A lockbox is a post office box run by a bank for the government, where payments are opened and deposited without passing through a local office. This one is run by the Treasury Department’s Fiscal Service and its financial agent, U.S. Bank, and Social Security started using it in 2021.
The message says some overpayment notices direct payments to U.S. Bank, P.O. Box 5480, Portland, OR 97228-9816. U.S. Bank deposited those payments with the Federal Reserve Bank. The programs covered include retirement and survivor benefits, Supplemental Security Income, disability and Medicare…