Applying for SS Online Rather than in Person at Local SS Office.

[ShokWaveRider]

Thinking about applying for SS later this year. DW is actually.

Has anyone had a seamless application online from initial application to it appearing in their checking/savings account?

I applied for Medicate at our local office, made appointment, went in, applied and all was pretty seamless there.

With Covid we are concerned about going to an office which could have a higher risk of transmission than applying online.

 

[MissMolly]

I applied for restricted spousal SS online. I am letting my own grow until 70. Absolutely seamless. About 10 days after applying online, I received a phone call from SS who wanted to verify with my husband that we were indeed married After that, checks began showing up in my account right on time.

 

[pacergal]

DH and I applied online, no problems. Checks arriving on time as expected.

 

[CRLLS]

DW and I both applied for Medicare online a few years back. No problems as I recall. Later, DW had no problems applying for her SS benefits online. I later applied for SS restricted benefits online. In both cases, everything went smoothly. The transition to paying Medicare from the SS benefit was a bit convoluted. I was previously paying every 3 months by check. When I transitioned to SS, they started payment immediately from my 1st SS benefit. They later sent me a check for the "overpayment" from the check-paid premiums. No personal action was necessary on my part.

I do recommend that you are careful with all the answers that you fill in and make sure that you understand the ramifications of the choices that you make.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

This is all great news, thanks.

 

[ivinsfan]

If your DW was not born in the US and not on Medicare as of yet, she might need to go in person.

That was my situation and I had to go in person and take all my proof of citizenship paperwork. Us passport all of the 65 YO papers from being born in England as the child of a serviceman. If she tries to apply online she'll get a message that says cannot process online.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

If your DW was not born in the US and not on Medicare as of yet, she might need to go in person.

That was my situation and I had to go in person and take all my proof of citizenship paperwork. Us passport all of the 65 YO papers from being born in England as the child of a serviceman. If she tries to apply online she'll get a message that says cannot process online.

Good point, Canadian Born, Canadian Citizen, US Citizen, US Passport.

 

[WestUniversity]

Applied online. It was super quick and easy. No problems...

 

[skipro33]

I applied for mine on line. I took it early at 62. No problems. The only thing I didn't like was that after I applied, there was no way to see what my benefit was going to be. It was in some sort of transition for my web page as the process was taking place. For that reason, be sure to capture all the info you want before you apply regarding your SS.
The check arrives to my bank account usually a day or two before it's promised and has for nearly 2 years now.
Since then, I've made withholding changes. I started with taking state and federal taxes out. I now have nothing taken out and log on to my pension account and modify those tax deductions in order to manage the SS tax burden. I figured this way, when I start my taxes in October for the next year, I can make 2 more adjustments to withholding on my SS to get a zero return.

 

[donheff]

DW applied online and had no problems. I don't get SS.

 

[Ronstar]

I applied online for payments beginning 3 months down the road. It was easy. Then I got a call from ss wanting to know if I wanted to start ss right away. I said yes and the deposits started, with Medicare deducted.

Problem is that I already started Medicare and paid the first 3 months already. So I called ss and explained the overpayment situation. Ss sent me 2 months of overpayment, but haven’t received the 3rd yet.

 

[ivinsfan]

Good point, Canadian Born, Canadian Citizen, US Citizen, US Passport.

Let's us know if they kick her out online. In my case I'm pretty sure none of my info got entered into the system by computer. I simply had an Army form saying I was a US citizen and an English birth certificate. My original passport was issued in 1955. I was kind of annoyed that they didn't just accept my current US passport.

 

[omni550]

Thinking about applying for SS later this year. DW is actually.

Has anyone had a seamless application online from initial application to it appearing in their checking/savings account?

I applied for Medicate at our local office, made appointment, went in, applied and all was pretty seamless there.

With Covid we are concerned about going to an office which could have a higher risk of transmission than applying online.

I applied online July 17, 2020 with the expectation of my first SS payment arriving in my checking acct this December. So far it has been seamless.

I am foreign-born and am a naturalized US citizen.

I have been on Medicare for ~5 years, paying the premiums by check.

A lady from SS called me on Aug 4 to clarify one item on my application. My 70th birthday is in October and there wasn't any obvious way that I could see on the SS application site to indicate that I want my SS payments to begin when I turn 70. So I wrote in two of the "Comments/Remarks" sections something about waiting to initiate the payments until I turn 70. She laughed when I told her I had waited this long to file and didn't want to 'short' myself of the SS maximum monthly benefit by having SS initiate payments a few months early.

I check my application status online periodically and the "in process" status is still showing.

omni

 

[razztazz]

I applied online in June right after my heart attack. Seamless. Easy. No problems. It was the next closest thing to thinking it into existence.

HEADS UP: It's been mentioned before in other SS/Medicare related threads. Make sure any freezes on your Big-3 credit bureau accounts are lifted otherwise they cannot verify your personal data.

 

[WyomingLife]

HEADS UP: It's been mentioned before in other SS/Medicare related threads. Make sure any freezes on your Big-3 credit bureau accounts are lifted otherwise they cannot verify your personal data.

I hope you are on the mend.

Thank you very much for this insight. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I applied for mine and my dependents online, while living in Peru and it was totally seamless.

 

[TrvlBug]

If your DW was not born in the US and not on Medicare as of yet, she might need to go in person.

That was my situation and I had to go in person and take all my proof of citizenship paperwork. Us passport all of the 65 YO papers from being born in England as the child of a serviceman. If she tries to apply online she'll get a message that says cannot process online.

I applied online and all went fine. Received a call to confirm everything and the checks started showing up. I am a naturalized citizen and was not on medicare yet. I applied on my record.

Edited to add: There was no confirmation required or questions asked about my citizenship.

 

[razztazz]

I hope you are on the mend.

Thank you very much for this insight. I wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

About a year or two earlier I tried to open a SS Myaccount, account. No go. Was starting to understand those people who like to crap on bureaucrats as incompetent. Then I read right here about how they use the credit bureaus to verify personal info. Bingo!

And thank you. I am not mending as I would have liked or was imagining but I am mending. That's another thread

 

[omni550]

I applied online and all went fine. Received a call to confirm everything and the checks started showing up. I am a naturalized citizen and was not on medicare yet. I applied on my record.

Edited to add: There was no confirmation required or questions asked about my citizenship.

The bolded above^ is incorrect.


I printed a copy of my online SS application. They most certainly do ask. Here's an extract of that section.

Birth and Citizenship Information

Place of Birth:
U.S. Citizen: yes/no
Type of Citizenship:
Date of Citizenship:

​

omni

 

[TrvlBug]

The bolded above^ is incorrect.


I printed a copy of my online SS application. They most certainly do ask. Here's an extract of that section.

Birth and Citizenship Information

Place of Birth:
U.S. Citizen: yes/no
Type of Citizenship:
Date of Citizenship:

​

omni

The application did ask, however, there were no issues or discussions about it when the SS person called (as I recall). Thank you for the clarification.

 

[cbo111]

I applied online in June right after my heart attack. Seamless. Easy. No problems. It was the next closest thing to thinking it into existence.

HEADS UP: It's been mentioned before in other SS/Medicare related threads. Make sure any freezes on your Big-3 credit bureau accounts are lifted otherwise they cannot verify your personal data.

+1, it was easy to do on line, but lifting my three credit files was painful. I misplaced the pin for one of the bureau's, and had to speak with a representative. She asked me to verify a credit account that I had established in 2002. Seriously, I could not come up with the answer, so I said goodbye and called back again a week later and got a different question that I could answer.

 

[BrianB]

My on line application was approved within two weeks, but the first payment isn't expected until mid-November (October's benefit; all payments are in the month after the benefit month).

I would recommend creating an account with mySocialSecurity if you haven't already. You can review your earning history and account to verify that everything is complete & correct. My application was "clean" - accurate work history, no errors or updates in other data. Fixing problems before you apply could save some time & frustration.

The actual application only took about 10 minutes.

BrianB

 

[ivinsfan]

The bolded above^ is incorrect.


I printed a copy of my online SS application. They most certainly do ask. Here's an extract of that section.

Birth and Citizenship Information

Place of Birth:
U.S. Citizen: yes/no
Type of Citizenship:
Date of Citizenship:

​

omni

That's where I ran into trouble...my info did not make the computer happy..

 

[NYEXPAT]

Thinking about applying for SS later this year. DW is actually.

Has anyone had a seamless application online from initial application to it appearing in their checking/savings account?

I applied for Medicate at our local office, made appointment, went in, applied and all was pretty seamless there.

With Covid we are concerned about going to an office which could have a higher risk of transmission than applying online.

Social Security offices have not been open for months.

 

[harllee]

I applied online in June right after my heart attack. Seamless. Easy. No problems. It was the next closest thing to thinking it into existence.

HEADS UP: It's been mentioned before in other SS/Medicare related threads. Make sure any freezes on your Big-3 credit bureau accounts are lifted otherwise they cannot verify your personal data.

You have to lift your security freeze with Equifax to open a SS online account (no need to lift it with the other credit agencies). If you already have an online SS account you don't have to lift your credit freeze to apply for SS or Medicare.