Social Security in the current climate
 

I was probably going to wait till I was 70 or so before claiming Social Security since I don't need the money, but with all the current 'noise' coming from Trump/DOGE/Musk, I'm thinking seriously about getting it now (mid-60s).

My thought is - they could either reduce the amount, or, simply make it really hard for a foreign-born citizen to claim. I am hearing that they are closing regional offices, and decimating the phone systems, making it virtually impossible to contact them (for identity verification, etc). It's unclear to me now whether as a foreign-born citizen I will have any trouble getting through the 'verification' stage.

Has anyone else gone through this thought process?

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Was discussing this recently as I’d read this article from Dave Ramsey, which says everyone should take it at 62, you will be better off. The article explains how and why and it makes sense.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Yeah, I'm starting to agree with his position. Yes, you get more dollars from SS if you wait longer (assuming you don't die!), BUT - if you have 'other money' and that money is well-invested (good returns), you may be better off taking SS and using it so you can leave your own money invested and keep those good returns.

But - I don't want to turn this into a 'what age to take SS at' discussion, I'm wondering whether people are worried that they will have difficulty making the claim thanks to Trump/DOGE/Musk shenanigans.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Yes, worried. We need our SS payments, they are not "extras" for us. The worry stems from two sources, first the practical, bureaucratic side and second the anti-immigrant feeling and policies that are being promoted by the current administration.

Specifically:

• While I am a US citizen (taken later, not born there), OH is not. Was a permanent resident. So both of us ought to be treated the same as US-born citizens in terms of getting our money, but in the current, nativist climate who knows.
• Trump's willingness to use executive power, backed by the constitution and courts or not, to exert his personal power and preference over Federal agencies and quasi-Federal agencies.
• The seeming inability or willingness of Congress to control that or act on it
• We are tax-resident in the UK, not the US, another possible point of vulnerability.
• Cuts to staffing making an already slow process (to start claiming) even slower and clunkier, especially for those not in the US.
• We actually screenshot and downloaded our SS statements recently just in case some 22-year-old on Red Bull pushes the wrong button and deletes some data. Absurd, but fail-safe measure. :blink:

We are all at risk of having the amount reduced anyway, due to the upside-down curve of claimers vs younger workers paying in. That is irrespective of Trump, other than that in an ageing population, importing younger workers may be prudent.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Leaving aside the contemporary uncertainty of the Trump administration taking actions that were previously thought impossible in a democracy…

I’ve always been fascinated by the implacable logic of actuarial calculations vs. the simple fact that neither you nor the government know when you are going to die. It is prudent to plan for a very long life (95? 102?) because you or your carers will be glad that your income streams will be as high as possible going forward. That argues for delaying taking pensions and retirement income. But, of course, many people die younger than break-even point so would have been better off taking income as early as possible.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Another variable is how much income anyone has at their disposal - and this tends to determine when they can retire. It can easily be the case that someone must stagger on until 70 in order to then earn enough to live off, no matter how long or short their post-retirement life may end up being. So the actuarial bit drops away and necessity crowds in.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Do the verification now (if you haven't already). Make sure you have a "my social security" account and keep a record of your employment info and up to date statement. Once you have that set up, I think the online claim to start receiving benefits is easy. My husband applied for his online and I don't remember any further verification being required. He took his slightly early at 66. I understand the logic of waiting for the maximum so that I will get more $$ should I outlive him, but tbh I don't trust them either. There's already a proposed bill to require beneficiaries to be citizens, and while it may not pass, who's to know what will come next. I'd rather spend their money now and save our own for later.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Keep it simple …..a bird in hand is worth two in the bush!

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I don't think you can start verification until you want to start drawing benefits, can you?

I see this bill in the Senate about raising benefits,

https://www.help.senate.gov/dem/news...ocial-security

But I don't see one regarding citizenship.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I took mine at 62. I did a calculation and came up with numbers that would make it start to go negative after age 78 assuming you lived beyond 78. However if you take the money at 62 and put it into a good investment like the S&P 500 index fund I think you would be very far ahead.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

If you wan to run various scenarios of claiming, especially if you have a spouse, and particularly a spouse who is significantly older or younger and may be claiming based on your own SS record I highly recommend this calculator:

https://opensocialsecurity.com

It also calculates survivor benefits payable after one spouse passes.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Be aware that since last year you can no-longer access the SSA website directly - you need to sign in via login.gov or ID.me. Setting up access via either of those might be problematic if you are outside the USA. I use login.gov because I've had an account there since getting enrolled in Global Entry several years ago. I don't remember all the steps used to validate my identity but I had a few problems with ID.me (which I tried for reasons other than SS). Here are some things you might encounter with one or the other:

1) Any method requires 2 factor authorization, which in its simplest form uses SMS text via a cellphone. I do not know if this will work with non-US numbers.
2) You might have to upload a photo of your US passport and maybe other documents using your cellphone. My older cellphone (Android 8 at the time) did not want to cooperate for some reason. I can't remember how I got around that tbh. Maybe I uploaded the docs some other way.
3) ID.me uses your US credit history as part of the validation process (I'm not sure if that also applies to login.gov). I had issues with that because I have security freezes on my credit. In theory that does not prevent ID.me from looking at my file (it just prevents someone opening an account using my name and SS number), but ID.me baulked at that and refused to validate me. So you might need to unfreeze things, and again, if you are overseas that might also prevent validation.

If you can get validated by one of those services, SSA then mails you a one-time login code for the first time you access the SSA website via the secure login process. Note that SSA will only give you the code via the mail, and I think I remember that can take up to 3 weeks. I do not know if they will mail your security code to an overseas address. If I had to suggest one method, I think login.gov is perhaps the easier.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Simple answer - you can submit the application up to 4 months ahead of when you want to start receiving payments. So - if you want to start receiving at 67, you can apply anytime after you are 66 and 8 months. If you want to start receiving at 70, you can submit the application anytime after you are 69 and 8 months, etc.

But the bigger question your question raises is 'what does 'verification' mean?' In order to submit the application, you need a 'mySocialSecurity' account. And in order to create a mySocialSecurity account, you need either a 'login.gov' or an 'id.me' login (and as I understand it, they are favoring the login.gov login; I had an id.me login and I was required to create a login.gov account anyway). In order to get the login.gov account, you have to do a fair amount of 'verification' - I think you have to submit details of your passport and/or drivers license, etc. I created my 'login.gov' a while back, and the 'mySocialSecurity' account decades ago - you need these accounts just to be able to check your balance, etc.

But once you have the login.gov account, and the mySocialSecurity account, is the application itself straight-forward or are there EXTRA verification steps required during the application process? That I intend to find out today as I'm going to try to submit my application.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

If your application is straightforward - in other words you are claiming based solely on your SSA contribution record and not your spouse - the process starts entirely online via your SSA account login. But be aware, if mine and my wife's recent experience is typical, the application will get stuck at 'Step 2' in the the review process. My application said to should take 30 days. After 60 days it was still in phase 2 so I called and they then proceeded to move on to the next step. Wife was similar, but with some more complexity. Basically, it looks like they will not proceed to finalize your claim until you follow up with a phone call. Maybe this is part of their process to weed out fraudulent claims?

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

You posted this while I was creating my response, so I duplicated a lot of what you say here. Good information.

You raise the issues of getting the Id.me and login.gov accounts (I have both; IRS.gov only accepts id.me). I know it was a tricky/finicky process, but I don't remember the details now. I have no recollection of having to receive anything via USPS (snail) mail, but you could be right. It may depend on other factors (maybe if there are address changes involved, they want to send something by mail to verify?).

FYI, I set up 'Google Authenticator' as the 2FA step, rather than 'text message to phone', though I think they allow me to choose either at the time of login. Ever since my cell phone was stolen a while back, I started looking for alternative ways to do 2FA as I was dead in the water without my cell phone.

The big question I have is - ONCE you go through the hoops of setting up login.gov, is that 'it' as far as verification goes, or, do they have additional verification steps during the actual application process? I plan to find out today as I'm going to submit my application!

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

And to expand on my previous response, if you get stuck at Stage 2 review and you need to call SSA, there will be questions at that time to verify you. Basic stuff like place and date of birth, mother and father's names, mother's maiden name. They might require you to produce documents in person. Last year during my wife's application for Medicare we were both given an appointment at the local SSA office to show our passports or naturalization certificates in person. So when we applied for Social Security they already had copies of those on file so no office visit was necessary.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I would go ahead and make the application online, you can always cancel or delay the start date. When you make the online application it will tell you what other documents if any you need. For example we needed to provide proof of citizenship including our US passport and Naturalization certificate.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

OK - "Job Done"! I visited ssa.gov, clicked on the 'apply now' button, logged in using my existing 'login.gov' account, and stepped through the entire process in about 30 minutes. No request for additional documents, no mention of any 'Step 2' or 'stage 2 review'. The 30 minutes included taking screen shots and creating a 'word' document of the entire process, in case of issues. I did get an annoying 'time-out' during the process, and it wouldn't let me resume the first time, but I waited 5 minutes and tried again, and completed the process. Early in the process you get a 're-entry' number, which you need in order to resume an incomplete session - make sure you note it down! I needed my citizenship date, and my bank account details; other than that, nothing - wasn't even asked for passport or drivers license info.

My process ended with this screen:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...701af38735.png
No mention of 'next steps, step 2, stage 2, phase 2, etc.

How did your 'step 2' issues arise - during the initial application process, or at some later date?

So - the big recommendation would seem to be - make sure you set up a login.gov account asap, because that's where the complications lie.

Do you (or did you) already have a login.gov (or id.me) account? And - to address an issue raised by others - since you now reside in the UK, are you able to login using the login.gov (or id.me) account from UK; do you encounter any 2-factor issues?

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Do you know what qualifying resident aliens have to do? Will OH be stuck visiting the US Embassy in London?
I took US citizenship, but he did not.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I have an Id.me account, and there are multiple 2f options, but they can use the more basic text a code to a phone method, and UK phone numbers work fine.

I don't think a non-citizen can apply to start the payments online though, although you can verify for your account from the UK (just haven't done that for OH yet).

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

You will likely get an email saying that your application has been accepted. My confirmation email actually gave a specific SSA office and its phone number. Log in to your SSA account once a week. It should show a progress bar for your application with 3 steps. It should get to Step 2 pretty quickly and will likely say there is a 30 day processing time from there. This is where mine got stuck (and my wife's SS and Medicare applications too). After 60 days with no further progress I called. On the national 800 number the callback feature typically tells you the wait time (2-3 hours seems typical). I called the local office number from my earlier email. They had a callback too, but with no indication how long. In fact they called back a whole day later when I wasn't expecting it so I had to go through the process a second time, with another 24 hour turnaround.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

While living in the UK both myself and my wife created our id.me accounts to access our SS online accounts from the UK. It required for the last step a video appointment to answer some questions and hold up our US passports and SS cards.

We did not need an in-person appointment to validate our citizenship. We sent in our Naturalization Certificates and US passports to the FBU in the London Embassy and received them back within a few days.

It would have been a real pain to have to attend in person given how far from London we live. Once the FBU reviewed the applications they were then sent back to the USA and could be seen online as being in step 2 of 3 waiting for review by an agent in Baltimore. In both cases the application stayed in step 2 for several months and we had to call Baltimore and speak to an agent to complete the application.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I did get the confirmation email that my application was accepted. However, NO SSA Office or phone number! That may be due to recent changes. The email simply says:I logged in and see that I'm at step 1 ...

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...4a5ab25c33.png
I will check back often!

I originally created an id.me account, and used it for access to Social Security website, 'a long time ago' (whenever they started requiring it for SS login). But I have a note that says I needed to create a new 'login.gov' account, and that's what I'm using now for SS login. But I see now that the SS login page supports both - so I don't know why I bothered with the login.gov account. Of interest also, the IRS do NOT support Login.gov; they only support id.me! This article discusses why the IRS (a government entity) won't use login.gov (another government entity) as it does not trust it! https://www.nextgov.com/digital-gove...hanges/391033/ (note this is a 2023 article so things could have changed).

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Quick question (apologies if answered elsewhere): Mrs CKUSA is currently in the US (Resident Alien with GC) and should be able to claim SS. Moving back permanently to the UK later in the year - should she start the process now while in the US, or wait until in the UK?
(Since I'm still working it's probably not worth claiming yet (due to the $1 reduction for each $2 earnt in income) - but probable same question applies).

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Probably easier to apply, dot the i’s, cross the t’s and resolve any issues while in the US, but I don’t know that for a fact. If you are at full retirement age, you could look at filing before you leave and then immediately suspend your SS. That would get the process started while here but enable you to defer benefits until you are ready to take them. The best of both worlds.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

"File and suspend" is no-longer an option. That was eliminated about a decade ago. You file when you are ready to claim benefits. But yes, the OP should get setup with login.gov or ID.me access their SSA account.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

If moving back permanently to the UK and you are over 65, make sure that SS does not withhold Medicare premiums from your SS payments whenever you claim. And keep in mind you need to be absolutely sure it is a permanent move. If you come back and decide to get Medicare after your normal signup date, you will face a permanent 10% hike in Medicare premiums for every year you were late signing up.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

If you are at full retirement age when you apply you can still suspend your benefits. https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirem...ent%20to%20you.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

It's been several years since I set up my account (and I haven't applied for SS yet), but surely you have to go through the verification process just to get access to your Social Security statement. Or am I mis-remembering?

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

From yesterday’s Letter from an American

https://heathercoxrichardson.substac.../march-28-2025

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Seems that now at least you do, if "verfication" refers to the ID checks done by ID.me, for example. OH saw his records as late as last year with just a regular sign-in (ssn, user name, password). But now he has to set up a new account access using one of the two mentioned.

If "verification" refers to some further step when you want to start drawing, then I have no idea.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

5 years is utterly ridiculous. The time frame will be longer than a few months but much closer to the DOGE estimate than the SS estimate. That’s what wrong with the government, slow and inefficient is accepted as normal and not challenged. It is not at all unusual these days to create code from AI that humans then optimize and enhance. Saves cost and money, nothing wrong with that. It’s called progress and it works. The quality of the testing is paramount and that applies whether it’s code written from scratch or by AI.

DOGE are highlighting issues that need addressed and fast. We may not agree on all the issues or the solutions, but there is enough common ground that we could resolve a lot if we would just sit down and agree that there are some real obvious problems out there and get on with crafting solutions rather than continually firing shots at the other side. Seems we would rather fail as a country than let the other side have success.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Sadly, Musk and Trump have no interest in sitting down with anyone much, other than a handful of billionaires. Equally sadly, Musk isn't crafting a solution to anything, he is charging about and breaking things on largely ideological grounds, at huge cost. It isn't at all clear that he had "highlighted issues" - a huge number of their claims have been debunked or shown to be simply false. What he and Trump call "waste" others call education, national parks, health care, human rights, etc.

Updating software may be a good idea and I expect that falls into an area he knows something about, but there is no benefit to creating chaos while you do it. Nor do I have any confidence that his motives are for the good of the country and all its citizens, or even benign. He has form, and that's not about "sides".

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

What I would say is absolutely critical is that she sets up the login.gov and/or id.me accounts, which are a pre-requisite now to even just logging in to Social Security (SSA.gov) to check your statement. id.me seems to be more useful than login.gov but I would get both set up 'just in case'. The process is very involved (includes a video call, where you have to show your passport, etc) so best to do it while you are in country / in time-zone.

When you actually claim is another question, based on the various factors mentioned in this thread.

I have yet to determine how much effort / hassle is involved after the initial claim is made (the 'steps 2 and 3' referred to above). I've submitted my application now, and I'll report back on how that part goes.

This is what I see as the process:
1) get yourself an id.me and/or login.gov account (hard!)
2) submit the online application (piece of cake)
3) deal with the post-application questions (potentially troublesome, based on the reports of others).

You have to go through a one-time, complex verification process to get the id.me or login.gov account, which is a pre-req for logging in and viewing your SS statement. Once you have the id.me or login.gov account, logging in to ssa.gov is easy. BUT - if you set up your SSA.gov account a long time ago, before id.me or login.gov was introduced, you will be forced to go through the ide.me or login.gov setup process first.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

Both Mrs CKUSA and myself have the login.gov accounts (annoyingly my SSA un/pw doesn't work, but my US government PIV card works - something I need to sort out before I leave a loose my PIV card!)

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

When you say your 'SSA un/pw doesn't work' - are you talking about using the third login option below - "sign in with Social Security Username"? For me, when I tried that years ago, I was forced to create the login.gov or id.me login. It does say 'For accounts created before September 18, 2021', but it didn't let me use my old SSA username/pwd that I created a very long time ago (10+ years, I believe).

And since you say you have a login.gov account, does that not work for you?

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...750a207946.png

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

I intend to apply for SS benefits from the UK via the US Embassy on my retirement date of 24 August 2025. Can anyone advise in the current climate if I'm better to start the application now in the US or wait and do it via the US Embassy in the UK?
I'm leaving the US shortly and plan on retiring in the UK and surrendering my green card
Thank you
Jenny

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

From what I've just been reading (and posted above) you can apply up to 4 months ahead of the 'desired start date'. So if your retirement date is 24 August 2025, then your application can be made as early as April 24 2025. Where will you be on that date? I have no idea how easy/hard it will be doing it via the US embassy. Do you live in/near London? But from what I just experienced (and posted above), the application itself is a 30 minute easy-peasy process and can be done from anywhere with one arm tied behind your back (assuming you have your login.gov or id.me account setup). The challenge may come after that date, once they start reviewing your application. This is the 'step 2 and 3' bit mentioned above. And that doesn't even start until after the application, so not until May, June, July ...

Do you need to 'surrender' the Green Card right away? Is there any benefit in doing so? Having the Green Card may make it easier to deal with the US Embassy? (I have no idea if that's the case).

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

The US embassy was so slow that I ended up applying online which was easy to do, but once accepted the status moved to stage 2 of being reviewed by an agent in London where it stuck for many months so I would definitely recommend applying before leaving the USA as that is one step less. Once finally being reviewed by an agent in London my application went back to the USA anyway for final review. My wife’s application followed a similar process back in 2021 of first being reviewed by London then back to the USA. Even without WEP I would guess that for a person living in the UK then the FBU in London is still going to review the application for authentication.

Re: Social Security in the current climate
 

My OH is in a similar position to you, so if you don't mind it would be great to hear from you how the process goes with the embassy.

He is/was (we have movec to the UK) a US permanent resident. We will be attempting to set up his ID.me account this coming week (he had the old username/pword system) from here. I can report back on how that goes.

He would like to start his benefits in Feb of 2026 but really not sure yet what is required to do that from the UK - will everybody not in the US need to go thrugh the US embassy, and is it instead of or as well as applying online now?

Not at all sure how much time to allow, either. I believe there was always lagtime, but is there now more? Musk has now started rumours of firing staff who handle social security, so I am envisioning the agency being short staffed and under strain but no idea how to estimate the effect of that on timelines. I know that if they are late they will eventually give you any missed back payments, but that's not much consolation when you need the money to live off.

It also seems that if you are already of retirement age when you apply, you can apply to delay your benefits until a specific date, buffering the delay, but also not sure how that works in terms of ultimately getting the same level of benefits you would get if you applied later.