Surely you have ever been waiting for your Social Security payment for several days, and it did not arrive… Social Security (SSA) is one of the basic and only income in millions of homes. Retirees have Social Security as their only source of benefits, so when payments are delayed or suffer irregularities in the schedule, we start to get very, very nervous. What has happened to our money? Here we are going to tell you what to do when your money is delayed and above all, what you have to do to recover your money and avoid headaches.
Why are your payments delayed?
There are several reasons why your payment may not have reached its destination (your wallet) and some are much more common than you think:
- Problems with your bank: your bank may have withheld the funds because you have irregularities in your account or possible verifications that you have not yet performed.
- Social Security may have outdated information about you, which could result in payments being delayed (or never arriving at all)
- If you no longer qualify for the benefit you are applying for, Social Security will most likely take that benefit away
How do I make a claim?
The first thing to make a claim is to find out what is wrong with your application. Once we have found what is wrong with our payment, we can proceed to claim the payment
- Talk to your bank: In most cases, as we have told you before, it will be a problem with the banks, so the first thing you have to do is check if your bank is withholding your funds. You must make sure that your bank account has no irregularities, there are no outstanding debts and that the bank details are up to date. If this process is fine, you can move on to the next step.
- Time to contact the Social Security Administration, you can go in person to a local office or call by phone, remember to have your Social Security number, the documents that support that you are eligible for that payment (such as statements of your bank accounts) or any notification you have received from this entity. They will investigate what is happening and will give you a solution to solve it!
And for the future, can I avoid delays?
Of course! There is nothing worse than waiting for something that never arrives, so here are some tips you can follow to avoid future delays:
- Make sure Social Security has your updated information, including addresses and bank details. If you change banks, notify them immediately so they can deposit your payments into the new account.
- Social Security payments have specific dates. Familiarize yourself with the schedule so you know when to expect your benefits. Remember that regular payments and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) do not always arrive on the same day.
- Check your bank account regularly to make sure everything is in order. If there are changes to your account or other payments, notify Social Security as soon as possible.
And remember not to wait too long when payments start to be delayed, the sooner you notify us, the sooner we can offer you a solution!