The last two months of the year will produce Social Security checks in a way that has never been seen before.
People who are used to getting their payments on a certain day may notice changes that they did not expect, especially if they are not used to how the Social Security Administration (SSA) handles payments.
What should you say if someone asks you to explain how the SSA chose the date you will get your money or why that date is correct? Then read this letter to make sure you understand again.
How does Social Security define when to pay their Social Security checks?
Social Security has made an official payment schedule that condenses the dates that all of their payments are due. Different programs will highlight different dates, just like with any other calendar.
You may not fully understand the programs that this government organization runs, though. It will be hard to find the best date for your needs if that happens.
In this case, making such a mistake could leave you without money while you wait for money that will not come.
What the Social Security Administration thinks about when planning Social Security checks is what the problem is all about. Before deciding who will be paid, a number of things must be taken into account.
The first thing that is taken into account is the date that each beneficiary started getting Social Security benefits. These people can be put into two big groups: those who started before May 1997 and those who started after that date.
The first group will get their money on the third of every month. This group is mostly interested in when their benefits will start, not in the program they are a part of. There are more subgroups in the second category.
The people who get SSI will be paid on the first of every month. For the rest, people who are in the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) programs are paid based on when they were born.
It is given out once a week and is always paid on Wednesday. The second Wednesday is pay day for people born between January 1 and October 10. People born between November 11 and December 21 will get their money on Wednesday, the third.
The rest of the people will get their money on Wednesday, the fourth. This is how SSA sets up its payments for the year.
Why will there be two Social Security checks on the same day?
One of the Social Security Administration’s rules about when to send out Social Security checks has led to this one-of-a-kind situation.
It comes from the fact that payments made on holidays or weekends might not go where they are supposed to go because of problems with how the banks carry out the payment instructions.
This would usually only need an extra payment order, or the recipient would wait until the next business day to make the claim more serious and ask for a bigger payment.
But the odds are against SSA recipients, and every day that their payments are late could mean that they can not afford to buy food, medicine, or pay for something important. So that does not happen, the SSA has agreed to pay any bills that are due early.
Because November 3 is a Sunday, the November payment for people who got SSI before May 1997 has been moved to November 1. This is so that those people can get their checks on the same day as people who got SSI after May 1997.
How much will the two Social Security checks be?
This will depend on your specific case and program. Most of the time, it is a good idea to look at the most recent data on the average Social Security payment. The SSA has released its September data, which reads as follows:
• Retirement amount: $1,873.08.
• Survivor earned $1,509.06.
• Disability costs $1,402.44.
• SSI: $697.27
What should I do to start getting Social Security checks?
The best way to find out about the different requirements for each Social Security program is to go to the SSA’s website. Different things must be done to be eligible for each program. Some are easy to understand, while others need to be read carefully.
