setting up social security account

[ratface]

Spent a frustrating morning setting up a social security account in preparation for applying for Medicare. After creating a password I had to upload a copy of my drivers license front and back and answer multiple questions.

After successful uploading I now must wait 5-10 business days to receive a letter in the mail with an activation code to complete the process of creating an account. It just sounds Arcane, is this really the normal process. Don't I already have an account by virtue of having a SSN?

Just an FYI, the link for doing this was sent to me by a trusted insurance Broker and the site was so frustrating it could only have been the SS administration!

Really, have any of you done this and received the activation letter?

 

[RunningBum]

I don't remember what I had to do to get the online SS account open. I'm glad it would not have been easy for someone to open an account under my number.

 

[badatmath]

I don't think I had to do all that because its not likely I would have bothered. I have had an account many years because I log in each year at tax time to verify my income was reported correctly. I figured the time to find a mistake and correct it was immediate, but there have not ever been any.

 

[donheff]

What was worse was when they and other Fed agencies used Equifax to confirm your identity. They would ask ridiculous questions about obscure dates you would never remember.

 

[ratface]

Using credit history is still an option but having a bad experience with that previously I chose the drivers license. I once answered one of those wrong and had to write a letter to Equifax to get my account re-opened. It's easy to get one of those old questions wrong!

 

[VanWinkle]

I remember doing the same as you, but I did it in advance so time was not a concern. Patience can be a virtue in investing and retirement.

VW

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

After successful uploading I now must wait 5-10 business days to receive a letter in the mail with an activation code to complete the process of creating an account. It just sounds Arcane, is this really the normal process. Don't I already have an account by virtue of having a SSN?

First, as others have said this is to prevent anyone who knows all your information, which is often out there, from being able to set up an account in your name. It's pretty much the next best thing to making someone show up in person with their documents.

Second, you have a SSN, but you have to jump through hoops to set up access to an online account to avoid identity or benefit theft, as just mentioned. Everyone has a SSN and an "account", but not online access. It's easy to conflate the two, but the distinction is important in this case.

 

[ratface]

First and foremost I wanted some confirmation that I wasn't somehow scammed into providing a copy of my drivers license. I don't know about the rest of the country but I live in Chicago and mail delivery here is far from dependable. Mail carriers are routinely robbed at gunpoint in order to obtain their mailbox keys. The Thieves then open the main mail boxes and steal the mail looking for gift cards but mainly personal checks which are then washed, altered, and cashed for large sums of money. It is also not unusual to not receive mail for multiple days at a time and then one day you get a weeks worth of mail rubber banded together. My birth month is in November but I'm glad to have started early. It never occurred to me to open an account years earlier nor new it was an option.

 

[badatmath]

We have cluster boxes here too, no home delivery, and my mail is not reliable so I feel your pain.

 

[SJhawkins]

I signed up for online access many years ago, in my 40's, I don't recall it being to bad, I log in one time a year to "check in".

Figure I might as well make an online account before someone else does for me!

 

[ratface]

The letter finally arrived on the 10th business day and I was able to create an account, what a relief. My only concern is that as technology advances my cell phone number won't be available for two step verification, God forbid I need to change my phone number!

 

[badatmath]

The letter finally arrived on the 10th business day and I was able to create an account, what a relief. My only concern is that as technology advances my cell phone number won't be available for two step verification, God forbid I need to change my phone number!

Always something isn't it!

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

The letter finally arrived on the 10th business day and I was able to create an account, what a relief. My only concern is that as technology advances my cell phone number won't be available for two step verification, God forbid I need to change my phone number!

Actually, it's very easy to take your phone number with you now. When my father sold my childhood home in 2006, he ported that phone number to his cell phone, and when he passed, I paid a $20 fee to transfer it to Google Voice just for nostalgia's sake.

 

[RetMD21]

It seems wise to be careful about identity before giving folks online access to social security information. The downside is that it is going to be harder for some folks. Of course, in person is still available.

 

[Al18]

The online account process used to be simpler. I created my account in 2011, when SS stopped mailing yearly statements.