Woman asks NBC6 Responds for help after she stops receiving her retirement check

A woman in Miami who was married to her first and only love for 57 years, Maria Correa Villalba, said she was 15 when they met and waited 10 years while he was a political prisoner in Cuba to marry him. They did everything together, including having a single bank account where they received their retirement checks. Her sister, Ofelia Correa, spoke on her behalf, as Maria experienced speech and mobility issues after receiving a liver transplant. Approximately 70 million Americans receive some form of Social Security benefit, and many of them are retirees who depend on those checks to make ends meet.

Maria lost her own retirement benefits shortly after her husband’s death in July of last year. “The July Social Security salary was deposited in August, but they took the check out of the bank the next day,” Ofelia stated. Ofelia informed the NBC6 Responds crew that she called the Social Security Administration as soon as the retirement check vanished from Maria’s account. “All right,” they said, “wait about a week and your check will be back in your account.After a week, there was still no cheque in the bank. We made the decision to speak with a representative in person at the Social Security Administration office,” Ofelia stated.

“We made three unsuccessful trips to the Social Security office,” she stated. Maria and Ofelia decided to call the NBC6 Responds team after more than a month of trying alone, and we contacted the Social Security Administration. On the same day, they gave me a call. in the afternoon. “I was contacted by the supervisor,” Ofelia stated. She said that the agency promised to send her another check and told her to get in touch with the manager of the local Social Security office if she hadn’t received the money within a week. Maria claims she really needed the missing $1,059 check, and this time she got it. “Retired folks, you know, we make ends meet. It’s awful to go a month without the check.