Just an update on my experience with SS staff.
I got a letter on June 21 stating that they were going to start my benefit in July (first check in August). The letter included an amount. It was the amount I expected based on deferred retirement credits through age 70.
I got a second letter on July 5 stating they were going to start my benefit in July (first check in August). The letter included an amount. It was much less than the amount I was expecting. Not as low as my PIA, but quite a bit lower than the amount in the first letter.
So, I tried calling my local SS office. I got a different individual than I talked to earlier. He spent a little time on it and figured out that the second letter amount would have been correct if I had started three years ago when I turned 67. I should have caught that myself - I filed and suspended at 67, so that's a possible wrong number.
He put me on hold, spent time talking to somebody else, and came back and said someone had messed up and he got the ball rolling to correct it. But, it was very unlikely it would be fixed before my first check. Expect it to be wrong.
He warned me there was a possibility I'd get a very big payment - that would be the retroactive payment for the last three years if the system thinks that's what I had requested. Don't spend it if I get it.
Okay, I got that. Somehow, somebody put the right stuff in the computer, then later somebody put the wrong stuff in the computer. I'll see how this plays out.
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Going a little further, my guy on the phone warned me that my checks in 2017 would be a little lower than I might expect because I would not get credit for the Deferred Retirement Credits I earned in 2017 until the system recalculated benefits at the beginning of 2018. But, I'd get a retroactive payment when that recalculation occurred.
I think my first letter said the opposite. It had two numbers, one without the 2017 DRCs, the other with. It seemed to say I would get the higher number starting in August.
I told him I thought the rule he was using only worked for people who started benefit before age 70, those who deferred all the way started with the correct number. And, there wouldn't be a retroactive benefit in that case (earlier thread on this). He said he wasn't really sure, he has seen so few people wait to 70 that he doesn't have a lot of experience with this.
That wasn't terribly reassuring in terms of getting my first problem resolved.
I'll update this thread again, hopefully with "it finally worked right".