SS reciprocal totalization agreement

[nun]

Tis is a pretty esoteric SS question, so where better to ask it than here. I have 17 years of US SS and 25 years of UK Ss payments. Under the totalizatiom agreement can I use the UK payments to top up my US SS record to the point where I can eliminate WEP?

[MasterBlaster]

Everything in the SS UK Totalization Agreement is covered here. Spend some time there and your question will inevitably be answered.

Description of the U.S.-U.K. Social Security Agreement

[nun]

Yeah I've read that a few times. But a reality check with someone who has been through the process is good. What I took from the page is that as I have 40 US credits I qualify for SS and cannot use my UK credits to get a bigger payment. However, I think I can use my US SS credits to get me to the 30 years of payments I need for a UK state pension. I'll ask the UK authorities.

[DangerMouse]

My understanding is you can only use the UK credits if you need to top it up to 40 credits.

What is the difference between 25 years of credits and 30? The UK pension payments are so pathetic I would imagine it would be minimal.

I can recall when we first moved to the UK I spoke with them and they told me it was 44 years of payments for full entitlement.