Social Security Underpayments
I filed for S.S. Benefits on my 69th birthday (3-yr. delay) I have been collecting monthly S.S. benefits for 10 months now. I received an additional 8% for years 1 and 2, but for year 3, I only received an additional 2% . SSA sent me Form SSA-4926-SM to confirm the amount of my monthly benefit. If I disagreed with the amount, I could appeal by filing Form SSA-561-U2, which I did. It has been approximately 250 days now since I filed SSA-561-U2, and I still have not received an answer regarding my appeal. I have made numerous phone calls to the Bloomingdale SSA and the National Office. I speak to a different Rep. each time and get a different answer each time. Usually, I’m told to wait so many days (i.e. 60, 15, 20) and still no response. I understand SSA is probably under-staffed. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever receive the correct amount that I’m entitled to. At least three of the SSA Reps. I spoke to, agreed with my appeal and the amount I was expecting. But the appeal was with the Review Board, and I was told that I just had to wait. In one of his articles, Elliot Raphaelson recommended to one of his readers with a similar problem to contact his Congressman. I was wondering your thoughts. Would you recommend contacting my Congressman?
Terry, thanks in advance for any advice you may have.
Terry Says
Ugh, you are caught in the web of SS calculations. Likely they didn’t take the full third year into account. OR maybe they didn’t give you that third year at all — but the 2% increase was a cost-of-living increase applied to the earlier years. It’s almost impossible to get through to SS — and there are people in dire trouble who have been taken off their (disability) benefits completely who are trying to get agents’ attention.
I’m surprised you didn’t wait until you reached age 70 to get the full benefit of delaying. At this point, I would go to www.MaximizeMySocialSecurity.com to make sure you actually know your correct benefit amount. Paying the $50 to do this would solidify your complaint.
