If you receive more Social Security benefits than you are owed, you may face a 100% default withholding rate from your monthly checks once a new policy goes into effect.

The change announced last week by the Social Security Administration marks a reversal from a 10% default withholding rate that was put in place last year after some beneficiaries received letters demanding immediate repayments for sums that were sometimes tens of thousands of dollars.

The discrepancy — called overpayments — happens when Social Security beneficiaries receive more money than they are owed.

The erroneous payment amounts may occur when beneficiaries fail to report to the Social Security Administration changes in their circumstances that may affect their benefits, according to a 2024 Congressional Research Service report. Overpayments can also happen if the agency does not process the information promptly or due to errors in the way data was entered, how a policy was applied or in the administrative process, according to the report.

The Social Security Administration paid about $6.5 billion in retirement and disability benefit overpayments in fiscal year 2022, which represents 0.5% of total benefits paid, the Congressional Research Service said in its 2024 report. The agency also paid about $4.6 billion in overpayments for Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, benefits in that year, or about 8% of total benefits paid.

The Social Security Administration recovered about $4.9 billion in Social Security and SSI overpayments in fiscal year 2023. However, the agency had about $23 billion in uncollected overpayments at the end of the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

By defaulting to a 100% withholding rate for overpayments, the Social Security Administration said it may recover about $7 billion in the next decade. 

“We have the significant responsibility to be good stewards of the trust funds for the American people,” Lee Dudek, acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, said in a statement. “It is our duty to revise the overpayment repayment policy back to full withholding, as it was during the Obama administration and first Trump administration, to properly safeguard taxpayer funds.”

The new 100% withholding rate will apply to new overpayments of Social Security benefits, according to the agency. The withholding rate for SSI overpayments will remain at 10%.

Social Security beneficiaries who are overpaid benefits after March 27 will automatically be subject to the new 100% withholding rate.

Individuals affected will have the right to appeal both the overpayment decision and the amount, according to the agency. They may also ask for a waiver of the overpayment, if either they cannot afford to pay the money back or if they believe they are not at fault. While an initial appeal or waiver is pending, the agency will not require repayment.

Beneficiaries who cannot afford to fully repay the Social Security Administration may also request a lower recovery rate either by calling the agency or visiting their local office.

For beneficiaries who had an overpayment before March 27, the withholding rate will stay the same and no action is required, the agency said.

The new overpayment policy goes into effect about one year after former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley implemented a 10% default withholding rate.

The change was prompted by financial struggles some beneficiaries faced in repaying large sums to the Social Security Administration.

At a March 2024 Senate committee hearing, O’Malley called the policy of intercepting 100% of a benefit check “clawback cruelty.”

At the same hearing, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, recalled how one constituent who was overpaid $58,000 could not afford to pay her rent after the Social Security Administration reduced her monthly checks.

Following the Social Security Administration’s announcement that it will return to 100% as the default withholding rate, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare said it is concerned the agency may be more susceptible to overpayment errors as it cuts staff.

“This action, ostensibly taken to cut costs at SSA, needlessly punishes beneficiaries who receive overpayment notices — usually through no fault of their own,” the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, an advocacy organization, said in a statement.

It’s happening: Southwest Airlines will start charging passengers to check bags for the first time.

It’s a stunning reversal that shows the low-cost pioneer is willing to part with a customer perk executives have said set it apart from rivals in more than half a century of flying in hopes of increasing revenue.

Southwest’s changes come after months of pressure from activist Elliott Investment Management. The firm took a stake in the airline last year and won five board seats as it pushed for quick changes at the company, which held on for decades — until now — to perks such as free checked bags, changeable tickets and open seating.

For tickets purchased on or after May 28, Southwest customers in all but the top tier-fare class will have to pay to check bags, though there will be exceptions. Elite frequent flyers who hold “A-List Preferred” status will still get two bags and A-List level members will get one free checked bag. Southwest credit card holders will also get one free checked bag.

“Two bags fly free” is a registered trademark on Southwest’s website. But its decision to about-face on what executives long cast as a sacrosanct passenger perk brings the largest U.S. domestic carrier in line with its rivals, which together generated $5.5 billion from bag fees last year, according to federal data.

Southwest executives have long said they didn’t plan to charge for bags, telling Wall Street analysts that it was a major reason why customers chose the airline.

“After fare and schedule, bags fly free is cited as the No. 1 issue in terms of why customers choose Southwest,” CEO Bob Jordan said on an earnings call last July.

But Southwest has changed its tune.

“What’s changed is that we’ve come to realize that we need more revenue to cover our costs,” COO Andrew Watterson said in an interview with CNBC about the baggage fee changes. “We think that these changes that we’re announcing today will lead to less of that share shift than would have been the case otherwise.”

In September, Southwest’s then-chief transformation officer, Ryan Green, told analysts that its analysis showed Southwest would lose more money from passengers defecting to rivals if it started charging for bags than it would make from the fees.

“The fact that free bags is a key driver of choice creates the risk that customers may choose the competition if we change the policy,” he said.

Southwest said last month that it had parted ways with Green.

The airline also said Tuesday that it will launch a new, basic economy fare, something rivals have offered for years.

Southwest, in addition, will change the way customers earn Rapid Rewards: Customers will earn more of the frequent flyer miles depending on how much they pay. Redemption rates will vary depending on flight demand, a dynamic pricing model competitors use.

And flight credits for tickets for tickets purchased on or after May 28 will expire one year, or earlier, depending on the type of fare purchased.

It’s the latest in a string of massive strategy changes at Southwest as its performance has fallen behind rivals.

Last July, Southwest shocked passengers when it announced it would ditch its open seating model for assigned seats and add “premium” extra legroom options, ending decades of an single-class cabin.

The airline is also looking to slash its costs. Higher expenses coming out of the pandemic have taken a bite out of airline margins.

Last month, Southwest announced its first mass layoff, cutting about 1,750 jobs roughly 15% of its corporate staff, many of them at its headquarters, a decision CEO Jordan called “unprecedented” in the carrier’s more than 53 years of flying.

“We are at a pivotal moment as we transform Southwest Airlines into a leaner, faster, and more agile organization,” he said last month.

Earlier this year, Southwest announced the retirement of its longtime finance chief, Tammy Romo, who was replaced by Breeze executive Tom Doxey, and its chief administrative officer, Linda Rutherford. Both executives worked at Southwest for more than 30 years.

Southwest has also cut unprofitable routes, summer internships and employee teambuilding events its held for decades.

Three separate outages appeared to hit Elon Musk’s X social media site Monday as he claimed it was suffering a ‘massive cyberattack.’

Downdetector.com first registered thousands of reports of trouble accessing or using the site around 5:30 a.m. ET. It took about an hour before those issues subsided.

Then, around 9:30 a.m., the issues appeared to flare up again, with as many as 40,000 outage reports detected. It again took about an hour for that incident to dissipate.

Finally, around 11:10 a.m., the issues cropped up again, according to Downdetector.

A representative for X couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Musk said Monday afternoon on X that there had been a ‘massive cyberattack’ against the site.

‘We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved,” he said. He didn’t post any evidence of a cyberattack.

Experts said the outage was consistent with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, a rudimentary but sometimes effective hacker tactic to overwhelm a website with traffic, effectively knocking it offline.

Isik Mater, the director of research at NetBlocks, a company that tracks global internet connectivity, told NBC News that X had suffered intermittent outages since Monday morning. While establishing a DDoS attack with certainty can be difficult, Mater said, Musk’s claim was plausible.

“It’s difficult to be certain, but given the pattern of three observed outages, a denial [of] service attack targeting X’s infrastructure can’t be ruled out,” she said. “It’s certainly one of the longest X/Twitter outages in our records.”

Musk said in an interview Monday afternoon on Fox Business that the outage was due to “a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” a reference to internet protocol addresses. IP addresses, strings of numbers assigned to all internet-connected devices, include codes indicating their countries of origin.

Large DDoS attacks usually rely on large armies of hacked devices from around the world. The IP addresses of the devices used against X aren’t public, and they are unlikely to be a reliable indication of where the attacker was based.

Tesla’s selloff on Wall Street intensified on Monday, with shares of the electric vehicle maker plunging 15%, their worst day on the market since September 2020.

On Friday, Tesla wrapped up a seventh straight week of losses, its longest losing streak since debuting on the Nasdaq in 2010. The stock has fallen every week since CEO Elon Musk went to Washington, D.C., to take on a major role in the second Trump White House.

Since peaking at $479.86 on Dec. 17, Tesla shares have lost over 50% of their value, wiping out over $800 billion in market cap. Monday marked the stock’s seventh worst day on record.

Tesla led a broader slump in U.S. equities, with the Nasdaq tumbling almost 4%, its steepest decline since 2022.

The downdraft in Tesla’s stock on Monday was tied to uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump’s plans on tariffs. Canada and Mexico are key markets for automotive suppliers, and increased tariffs, with the potential for a trade war, will likely impact production and lead to higher prices.

Tesla is also dealing with brand erosion due to Musk’s incendiary political rhetoric and his extensive work with the Trump administration, where he’s leading up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has become the public face of the administration’s effort to dramatically shrink the federal government’s workforce, spending and capacity.

Meanwhile, Musk has used his social network X to level accusations against judges whose decisions he didn’t like and promoted false Kremlin talking points about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Activists and former Musk fans have protested at Tesla facilities throughout the U.S., and Tesla vehicles and facilities have been the apparent targets of vandalism and arson attempts. Repeated arson attempts and instances of vandalism occurred at a Tesla store and service center in Loveland, Colorado, most recently on March 7, police told CNBC.

Ben Kallo, an analyst at Baird, told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Monday that recent reports of vandalism could hurt demand.

“When people’s cars are in jeopardy of being keyed or set on fire out there, even people who support Musk or are indifferent Musk might think twice about buying a Tesla,” Kallo said.

Analysts at Bank of America’s wrote in a report on Monday that Tesla new vehicle sales plummeted by about 50% in Europe in January from a year earlier, partly owing to growing distaste for the brand. The firm also noted that some prospective customers are waiting for the new version of the Model Y.

Tesla’s Model Y, which is a small SUV, remained the best-selling battery electric vehicle globally in January. It was followed by China’s Geely Geome, which surpassed the Tesla Model 3 sedan for the month.

Global sales of electric vehicles, including fully electric and plug-in hybrid models, increased 21% in January from a year ago, even as Tesla’s sales declined. The growth was driven by demand in Europe, according to Bank of America.

— CNBC’s Jesse Pound contributed to this report.

Dick’s Sporting Goods on Tuesday said it’s expecting 2025 profits to be far lower than Wall Street anticipated, making it the latest retailer to forecast a rocky year ahead as consumers contend with tariffs, inflation and fears around a potential recession. 

In an interview with CNBC, Executive Chairman Ed Stack said the company’s exposure to China, Mexico and Canada for sourcing is very small, but it recognizes that falling consumer confidence could impact spending.

“I do think it’s just a bit of an uncertain world out there right now,” said Stack. “What’s going to happen from a tariff standpoint? You know, if tariffs are put in place and prices rise the way that they might, what’s going to happen with the consumer?”

On a call with analysts, CEO Lauren Hobart insisted the company is not seeing a weak consumer, and said its guidance is based on the overall uncertain environment.

“We definitely are feeling great about our consumer,” said Hobart. “We are just reflecting an appropriate level of caution given so much uncertainty out in the marketplace.”

Shares of the company opened about 2% lower.

Despite the weak guidance, the sporting goods retailer posted its best holiday quarter on record. Its comparable sales rose 6.4%, far ahead of the 2.9% growth that analysts expected, according to StreetAccount. 

Here’s how Dick’s did in its fiscal fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $3.62 vs. $3.53 expected

Revenue: $3.89 billion vs. $3.78 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 1 was $300 million, or $3.62 per share, compared with $296 million, or $3.57 per share, a year earlier.  

Sales rose to $3.89 billion, up about 0.5% from $3.88 billion a year earlier. Like other retailers, Dick’s benefited from an extra week in the year-ago period, which has skewed comparisons. But unlike many of its peers, Dick’s still managed to grow both sales and profits during the quarter, even with one less selling week. 

In the year ahead, Dick’s is expecting earnings per share to be between $13.80 and $14.40, well short of Wall Street estimates of $14.86, according to LSEG. It anticipates net sales will be between $13.6 billion and $13.9 billion, which at the high end is in line with estimates of $13.9 billion, according to LSEG. Dick’s expecting comparable sales to grow between 1% and 3%, compared with estimates of up 2.5%, according to StreetAccount. 

The gloomy earnings outlook comes after a wide array of other retailers gave weak forecasts for the current quarter or the year ahead amid concerns about sliding consumer confidence and the impact tariffs and inflation could have on spending. Kohl’s also offered a weak outlook for the year ahead on Tuesday, leading its shares to plummet 15%.

Some retailers blamed an unseasonably cool February for a weak start to the current quarter, but most recognized they’re also operating in a tough macroeconomic backdrop, and it’s harder than ever to forecast how consumers are holding up. In February, consumer confidence slid to its lowest levels since 2021, the jobs report came in weaker than expected and unemployment ticked up. Over the last few years, a strong job market has led many economists to brush away concerns about rising credit card delinquencies and debt, but those cracks could grow deeper if unemployment continues to rise. 

On Monday, some of those concerns triggered a stock market sell-off, extending losses after the S&P 500 posted three consecutive negative weeks. The Nasdaq Composite saw its worst day since September 2022, while the Dow lost nearly 900 points and closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Nov. 1, 2023.

Beyond the uncertain macroeconomic environment, Dick’s plans to invest more heavily in its “House of Sport” concept and e-commerce in the year ahead, which it also expects will weigh on profits. The massive, 100,000-square-foot stores are a growth area for the company and include features like rock climbing walls and running tracks. 

In the year ahead, Dick’s plans to spend $1 billion on a net basis building 16 additional House of Sport locations and 18 Field House locations, which take some of the experimental elements of the House of Sport but fit it into the size of a traditional Dick’s store. 

The strategy comes at a strong point for sports in the country, which is expected to be a tail wind for the business. The 2026 World Cup will be held in North America, women’s sports are more popular than ever, and consumers are increasingly focused on health and wellness. 

“We’re going to have a moment here in the next three or four years, from a sports standpoint, that I think is going to put sport on steroids,” said Stack. “We’re going into a sports moment right now, and we are investing very heavily into that sports moment over the next several years because this is going to last through [2030] and maybe beyond.”

— Additional reporting by CNBC’s Courtney Reagan.