FEMA Mistake

Well...good luck to FEMA. You can't get blood from a stone.

The money they are trying to reclaim is from recipients that did NOT meet their guidelines and was paid by error.

I can't help but think that if a person was NOT eligible, they'd have known it was wrong to take it, yes?

If people in need then had been denied funds, people would be screaming even louder.

I saw that very article this morning and was shocked. I am torn on how to feel though. As a tax payer, your darn right the money needs to come back but for the victims, how can you even ask them to give up more. Some lost EVERYTHING and now that some have actually been able to take root and really start their lives over our wonderful government wants to rip it all out from under them.....I can't side on this one....it still makes me sick. I feel like this is a true case of kicking someone when they are down. No wonder so many people don't trust our government!

As a tax payer - I want them to pay the money back especially the ones who got more than they should have...however, it's not that easy...

If FEMA made a mistake - they should take action so that mistake does NOT happen again....there might be a compromise in having the recipients pay some back - but I'm not the right person to ask...I'm torn...the tax payer/conservative part of me says PAY IT BACK but the other part of me understands the devastation that many endured and if FEMA messed up - well, then that's their bad...see?! I'm stuck!!

Wow! I think Number 1 priority should be to go after the corruption regarding Wall Street and the Bail Out. THOSE guys should be nailed to the WALL and fined so they are paying the rest of their life. FEMA recipients were "overpayed"? If generally the money was used for what it was supposed to be and we are talking home owners who used it to rebuild their lives, not those who were scamming the system then it should be written off. A few congressman could give up some of their "bennie's" to offset it. Not going to happen but that's what I think.

THAT IS ABSURD! After they had such horrible response times to just about everything they have ever had on their plate! why should the poor souls who needed the assistance have to pay it back. if they cant do their book keeping right it is their error at this point. Alot of those who have needed help from FEMA still have not gotten back on their own feet. Lets not start hounding them to get money back!

I have not read the article, I am after i type this. are they pin pointing a certain disaster? Katrina comes to mind...Those people got hosed...lets not turn the hose back on them! if it was another FEMA catastrophe leave them be...they have suffered enough!

Here is the thing they are trying to word this to make us feel sorry for the people. Take the first guy, his flood insurance gave him $27,000 for the loss of his home, it paid off his mortgage. Still that was what his house was worth. Then he gets a FEMA payout knowing he couldn't get it because he had insurance, takes it and buys a new home.

If the flood never happened he would not have been able to sell that home for more than $27,000, the mortgage balance. Heck he may not have been able to even get that. If there was no flood he would not have that $20,000 to put down on another home.

Say your husband pays the bills out of your bill account and then marks the bill paid. You see the gas bill unmarked and don't want your gas turned off so you pay it out of the grocery account. You forget all about it until you have a chance six months later to balance the checking accounts. It was your mistake you paid twice, should the gas company keep the money since they already spent it and it was your mistake?

I know I would not like to have to pay back money I didn't know I owed but it would not be right to keep money I did not deserve.

Another government program that doesn't know how to handle money so the tax payers get screwed. Did their people get bonuses? I'm just asking seeing as how all these programs screw up and need a "bailout" and then we find out that the higher ups got bonuses. I am sick of it all. I think the taxpayers should have gotten the money, not these companies that still don't know how to handle their money. I don't get bailed out if I mess up my budget. Freddie mac or fannie mae needs another bailout?! I am so sick of it all and then they raise OUR taxes!!

I have a HUGE problem with it! My house flooded this summer...twice. SO did many of my neighbors. We thankfully got money from FEMA to repair our homes. My neighbor TOLD them she received X amount of dollars from insurance ( Less than $2,000 for sewer back-up I believe) up front...several times. They still gave her money and told her this was in addition to it. We did not have flood insurance so I am hoping this will not happen to us. She lost her ENTIRE home (she has a ranch with no basement.) Fema is now coming back to her telling her they made a mistake and are asking for some (thankfully not all) of the money back. She spent all of the money repairing her house. She is a single mom who works two jobs. She appealed and was denied. They are giving her 30 days to repay or start a payment plan. They have admitted this was their error, yet she is required to pay it. She does not have the money. All of it was spent fixing her home (plus more) and she has receipts to prove it. I do not understand how they can give her a grant, then come back and take some of it back. We were told when we go it as long as we had reciepts to prove we spent the money on home repairs we would not have to repay the money. She clearly did.

I understand if people took advantage, scammed, etc., but MANY people were in need and now to come back and say, oops...we want our money back after you spent it...and thousands of dollars. Not right in my opinion.