Nice rumor but there's no physical way they could figure everyone's account out that fast. I'm guessing most people will be looking at months from now.
You are most likely correct. Also, this entails different situations: simple spousal claims, then there are survivor claims, then there are those who filed for retirement benefits and are a reduced benefit situation, or combinations, etc. Between GPO and WEP situations it could take awhile to get this ironed out. I did read a week or so ago someone state it could take 6-12 months, although it would seem some situations could be resolved more easily than others. This apparently involves 3+million people, some records going back decades which will have a 1 year retro or more. There will likely be lists to compile, assign out to offices, system changes, etc.
I'm a retired federal employee. 67 yrs old and am affected by the WEP. Through employment during and after high school, plus 4 1/2 yrs on active duty, I managed to accumulate 40 credits/quarters. Also during 29 yrs as an Air Reserve Reservist, SS was withheld from my Reserve pay, although not a huge amount. It was proportionate though. I did qualify & receive a reduced SS, along with both my federal pensions. My fed civil service retirement is under the old CSRS system and as a fed employee, no SS was withheld from my pay. So...after Medicare Part B, I receive $199 per month Social Security. I'm not complaining. I actually think that's fair. I'm not expecting the new WEP legislation to give me anything more.
Mine says that as well. About 70 days and counting. (I initially applied to start SS back in September before the bill was out of committee I think). I was just pleased to make it to step 2 in November.
UPDATE - In speaking with the General national SS rep, I was informed that I should contact my local SS office re my Spousal application. I did and I asked if my application could be transferred to the local office for processing. The rep was extremely responsive and contacted the person processing the application in Richmond, CA. After about 20 minutes on the phone, the transferred was completed and I now had a contact person to reach out to locally during this process.
Eliminating WEP reductions would be trivial, fixing PPO claims would be more complex.
Does your worker understand you are a WEP/GPO case subject to the recent law change? Did she ever ask questions about any gov't pension? Did she mention if they have received instructions on the rollout of the new law? Did she ask about your retroactive choice?UPDATE - In speaking with the General national SS rep, I was informed that I should contact my local SS office re my Spousal application. I did and I asked if my application could be transferred to the local office for processing. The rep was extremely responsive and contacted the person processing the application in Richmond, CA. After about 20 minutes on the phone, the transferred was completed and I now had a contact person to reach out to locally during this process.
After taking a look at my application, she indicated that everything looked fine except she needed to see the our marriage certificate. I asked if I could just bring it into the office to keep the process moving...no problem. She set up an appointment for later this week. Additionally, she suggested that I might want to consider having benefits start in January as opposed to February since there would only be a few dollars difference in benefits. Great!
As far as what to expect during this process, she said I would probably receive a letter in a week denying benefits based on my own work record, because I don't have enough credits. In about 2-3 weeks, I should receive a letter approving my Spousal benefit application. I might even receive a deposit in February!
Sounds too good to be true. I'm remaining positive, but wouldn't be surprised if there is a hiccup or two along the way. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Thanks for that info. It's nice to hear that receiving a denial letter is normal at first. That would have set me off! Luckily in my case I'm in no hurry to start getting benefits, up until a couple of weeks ago I never thought I'd get anything anyway.UPDATE - In speaking with the General national SS rep, I was informed that I should contact my local SS office re my Spousal application. I did and I asked if my application could be transferred to the local office for processing. The rep was extremely responsive and contacted the person processing the application in Richmond, CA. After about 20 minutes on the phone, the transferred was completed and I now had a contact person to reach out to locally during this process.
After taking a look at my application, she indicated that everything looked fine except she needed to see the our marriage certificate. I asked if I could just bring it into the office to keep the process moving...no problem. She set up an appointment for later this week. Additionally, she suggested that I might want to consider having benefits start in January as opposed to February since there would only be a few dollars difference in benefits. Great!
As far as what to expect during this process, she said I would probably receive a letter in a week denying benefits based on my own work record, because I don't have enough credits. In about 2-3 weeks, I should receive a letter approving my Spousal benefit application. I might even receive a deposit in February!
Sounds too good to be true. I'm remaining positive, but wouldn't be surprised if there is a hiccup or two along the way. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I'm curious about the marriage certificate. Do you know if the original one from the wedding, signed by the officiant and witnesses, will be accepted? Or do you have to show an official one from the courthouse?
I'm taking an official one with the official stamp from the County Registrar-Recorders Office. I would think they would need legal proof of marriage. I'll confirm after my appointment.
These might be helpful:
secure.ssa.gov
secure.ssa.gov
Answers to your questions: 1) Yes; 2) Yes (she asked if I had one but understood that the question is no longer relevant. She didn't ask for an amount); 3) No; and 4) No, other than to say that it might be advantageous to request that benefits start in January rather that February.
Thanks for the info. Please post an update after your appointment, especially about if the worker knows anything about how this process will roll out and the timeframes.
While it would seem that some cases could be denied for failure to provide documentation, I think what might be happening--and happened in my case--is that the spousal claim was not "denied" but rather actually "approved" and then "suspended" to a 0.00 benefit amount due to the gov't pension amount. This sounds also like what happened as described in the prior post by Dreamer.
Thanks for this excellent info. I'm glad to see they are on it and this congressional request should hopefully get some action. Please update the group if any further action is announced.
If you're referring my thread, what I was referring to was a denial of an application for retirement benefits under "my own" work record. In applying for spousal benefits, the SSA automatically processes the application as an application for retirement benefit under your own work record too. I had never applied for "retirement" benefits. Since I didn't have 40 credits, that portion of the application was denied.
No, you now qualify for 100% of what ever SS amount you've earned, government pension or not. And if you've already taken the smaller SS amount you'll get reimbursement of that different retroactive to January 1, 2024. I also don't believe SS will be going bankrupt, to many political jobs are at stake.
