Request for Waiver Resulting From Erroneous Payments of Basic Allowance for Quarters

A member of the Navy requested reconsideration of a decision which denied his application for waiver of debt to the United States arising from erroneous payments to him for basic allowance for quarters. He contended that since the error was administrative, disbursing officials were responsible for correcting it, and that recoupment would result in serious hardship to him and his faimily. GAO held that considering the substantial amount of overpayments and his rank and years of service, the member should have been aware of the possibility of error and set aside the excessive amounts until a determination and statement had been made to explain the situation fully. The fact that the overpayments were made through administrative error did not relieve the member of the responsibility to determine the truth of the matter. Financial hardship alone, resulting from collection, was not a sufficient reason to retain payments he should have known did not belong to him. Since GAO was unable to conclude that the member was free from fault and collection action was not against equity and good conscience nor contrary to the best interests of the United States, the prior action was sustained.