Timing the first SS deposit.

[OBXretire]

I know to file three months in advance, but still a little confused, here's the situation:

My DW and I are both retiring effective June 30 this year. Our last pay checks will be issued in June. SS checks are issued a month in arrears? So in order to avoid a check-less month we file in April or March? Or is a check-less month unavoidable?

Thanks

 

[2B]

If going checkless one month destroys your retirement plan, I suggest you both keep working.

You can apply early and have the checks start when you want them to start. Talk to the SS people and tell them what you would like to do. The only problem is waiting too long to start the process.

 

[Bestwifeever]

DH applied on 12/15 shortly after turning FRA. His first deposit is supposed to land in our bank tomorrow, 1/21.

See here for when your deposit would be made based on your birthday: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031.pdf

He went down to the SS office to apply as he likes to ask lots of questions face to face.

 

[Independent]

One comment on when to start the process.

We called to see if we could walk in or needed an appointment. Our situation was just complicated enough that they said we'd need an appointment. Fine, and the next appointment is available ....?
In about two months.

 

[braumeister]

One comment on when to start the process.

We called to see if we could walk in or needed an appointment. Our situation was just complicated enough that they said we'd need an appointment. Fine, and the next appointment is available ....?
In about two months.

You were lucky. The first available appointment for me was also two months, and that was for a telephone appointment. The first in-person appointment was over three months out.

 

[Bestwifeever]

DH had no appointment. We waited no more than 10 minutes on a weekday morning.

 

[rodi]

The appointments are very geographically based. My aunt needed an appt - in Phoenix - and it was a few months before she could get one.
My husband needed one here in San Diego, and it was 3 weeks.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Interesting. We didn't call to see if we needed an appt as it didn't occur to us to do so. The office is about five miles away and we just went; they did ask if we had an appointment when we signed in but it wasn't a problem that we didn't.

 

[REWahoo]

We did everything online and by mail.

 

[Bestwifeever]

We did everything online and by mail.

That is what I plan to do, but DH likes to ask a lot of questions (all of which I probably could have answered for him, and certainly could have been answered on the SS website). He did sign up for Medicare online a year earlier. After stopping in at the SS office to ask the nice people there how to do it. I think some of the agents deal with dropins like him.

 

[Walt34]

We did everything online and by mail.

What has to be mailed? I thought it could all be done online. I'm looking at doing this spring of 2016 or a bit later.

 

[REWahoo]

Walt, both DW and I signed up online. I then was asked to send a copy of my DD214 to show proof of military service. I think DW and I both had to mail a form telling SS how much we wanted to have withheld for income taxes. But heck, it has been seven years, so I may not remember all the details.

 

[Walt34]

Walt, both DW and I signed up online. I then was asked to send a copy of my DD214 to show proof of military service. I think DW and I both had to mail a form telling SS how much we wanted to have withheld for income taxes. But heck, it has been seven years, so I may not remember all the details.

Ah, thanks. There is a SS office just a few miles from here so I may just drop in one day and if the wait isn't too long I'll ask. Or just call. This isn't exactly a major metropolitan area so they probably aren't all that busy. But if it's going to take months to get an appointment I want to know that well beforehand.

 

[Independent]

We had one small complication that generated the appt. My wife was applying on my earnings record, I was applying then deferring. My understanding is she could have done it online if she had been looking for benefits based on her own earnings.

 

[W2R]

DH applied on 12/15 shortly after turning FRA. His first deposit is supposed to land in our bank tomorrow, 1/21.

See here for when your deposit would be made based on your birthday: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031.pdf

He went down to the SS office to apply as he likes to ask lots of questions face to face.

The payment calendar linked to in the above post is the answer to the question originally posed in this thread. They don't ask what day of the month you want to be paid; they just pay you according to that calendar, AFAIK. That said, you can apply a month or two early and tell them you don't want to get this started until June or whenever.

I applied online, and had some nice conversations with a wonderful SS employee in the state of Washington (whose name and number were sent to me immediately in a packet of information and forms resulting from my online application). She answered my questions and I mailed her several documents that were necessary. In my case this was the easiest bureaucracy to deal with that I have ever encountered.

 

[misanman]

With one exception, we have done everything online with no issues or timing problems. The exception was our request for reconsideration on the Medicare Part B surcharge where the SS web site directs you to visit a local office. I didn't think about needing an appointment so just showed up and only had about a 5 - 10 minute wait. I was amazed that the smallesh local office had 18 customer service booths.

 

[iac1003]

With one exception, we have done everything online with no issues or timing problems. The exception was our request for reconsideration on the Medicare Part B surcharge where the SS web site directs you to visit a local office. I didn't think about needing an appointment so just showed up and only had about a 5 - 10 minute wait. I was amazed that the smallesh local office had 18 customer service booths.

+1. This is what DH had to do for the Medicare surcharge. I went with him and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. They act like they genuinely want to give you your hard-earned money.


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[frank]

my wife signed up in november and they said her first check would be feb, 25, 2015. I see some people say they pay one month in arrears, does that mean she will get a double check the first time? she came of age in dec, 2014.

 

[REWahoo]

I see some people say they pay one month in arrears, does that mean she will get a double check the first time? she came of age in dec, 2014.

No. As someone who also became eligible for SS in the month of Dec (several years ago), I received my first payment in February.

The SS payment rules are cleverly designed to say an individual is eligible to collect SS the month following their birthday, paid according to the schedule linked above. Her first check/deposit will be in Feb and there will be no double payment.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Reporting in that DH's first SS deposit is in the bank. He turned FRA on 12/14, filed in person at the local office on 12/15, and first check is here on 1/21, the third Wednesday.

Maybe there is some algorithm about when the birthdate falls in the month and if the filing date is before or after the payment date in the filing month.

 

[W2R]

Reporting in that DH's first SS deposit is in the bank. He turned FRA on 12/14, filed in person at the local office on 12/15, and first check is here on 1/21, the third Wednesday.

Maybe there is some algorithm about when the birthdate falls in the month and if the filing date is before or after the payment date in the filing month.

My experience with my divorced spousal SS was similar. I turned FRA on 6/8, filed online on 6/9, when asked on the online application when I wanted to start it I said June, and the first deposit was on 7/11.

After the first payment it settled into the second Wednesday of each month as stated on that pdf you linked to.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm sure the SS rules say you have to be 62 for a full month before you are eligible to start. That's where the one month delay happens. If you don't start SS until after age 62 there is no delay - you get asked when you want your 1st check,

 

[nate2953]

Social Security Benefits are paid one month behind. If your month of eligibility is January, you'll receive your first check on the 2nd/3rd/4th Wednesday(depending on your day of birth) of February. If you file in November, and choose February as your MOE you'll receive your first check in March.

The one month behind is regardless of age 62, 65, 66, 70 etc.


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[REWahoo]

Social Security Benefits are paid one month behind. If your month of eligibility is January, you'll receive your first check on the 2nd/3rd/4th Wednesday(depending on your day of birth) of February. If you file in November, and choose February as your MOE you'll receive your first check in March.

The one month behind is regardless of age 62, 65, 66, 70 etc.

You are correct in all the above - unless you happen to file the month you turn age 62 and your birthday isn't the 1st or 2nd of the month.

Excerpt from a complicated story about the issue:

Age 62 is the minimum eligibility age for Social Security. So, you must be 62 years old for every day of a month to get a Social Security benefit for that month. Since you turned 62 on Feb. 3, you obviously were not age 62 for the entire month of February. The first month you meet that requirement is March, so the first Social Security check you get is for March, which arrives in April.

Ten-Minute Delay in Birth Means One Less Social Security Check For Twin by Tom Margenau on Creators.com - A Syndicate Of Talent

 

[nate2953]

Regardless of your day of birth the check is paid one month after your MOE. If your birthday is 2/1/15, your MOE *could* be January, however your first check would still be paid in February.

If you turn 62 on 2/1/15 or 2/2/15 your MOE *could* be FEB and your first check would still come the following month.

If you turn 62 on 2/3/15 your MOE can be no earlier than March, in which case your first check would still come the following March.

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