Good experience at SSA Office (social security, federal, years, payments)
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I went to turn in a W4V to stop having Federal Taxes taken out of my SS check. Did not have to wait at all! First surprise. Second, was the guy handling this matter for me looked at me with alarm when I told him I could not affort to pay both federal taxes and medicare (not true), so I was going to stop the taxes. He wanted to know if I had any other income as there were programs to help with medicare payments. I assured him I would not qualify and told him I used my SS check for gas and wine! He laughed at that!
My experiences have been that the Social Security personnel are great - very helpful and very efficient - provided that your case is not unusual. However, once I got into the situation of my Medicare Part B premium being larger than my Social Security monthly retirement benefit, nobody knew what I should expect. What happens in that case is that they withhold the benefit and bill you annually for the difference. I was frustrated that no one could tell me what was going to happen, but I learned from that to just relax and not to worry until it happens. Then if I think they have made a mistake I can talk to them at that point.
Went to our local SS office yesterday so I'd know where it was if I needed to go there. The rep was extremely nice and informative.......I was VERY happy about that. I asked her which is better, to apply at the office or online and she told me "definitely online" if you can, which I can. I can apply up to 3 months before I turn 62, which is this coming June. I will have to go back to the office however and bring my Birth Certificate and Military DD-214 (for credits for to serving in Nam). I'm doing the "early retirement" due to being unemployed and having an extremely difficult time finding a job. My EUB ran out and we (wife/I) need the money to help with finances. She gets to avoid "early retirement" because she is now working full-time with a nice salary. Having a Bachelor's Degree and lots of past experience in Accounting sure helped her find a new job!
I applied online on February 1 of this year. After waiting a month for some sort of response from them, I finally paid an in person visit to their office. The representative that was handling my case was off that day, and he/she was supposed to call me, but never did. Someone else took over my case, got their questions answered, and said that everything was fine and to expect my first check. For me, it would have been faster to apply in person. I would have been able to answer all their questions on the spot, and they would have told me how much my check would be every month.
I'm now awaiting my second check, which hasn't been direct deposited yet. If it's not in the bank by Monday, I'll have to call them, and if I don't get a decent answer, I'll have to spend 1 1/2 hours at their office again.
I have no reason to doubt Loveboating that it is preferable to apply online for Social Security retirement benefits, but for what it's worth my experience applying at the office was pretty quick and painless. I applied at the office five years ago because I didn't even know that one could apply online. I had arrived with copies of everything - birth certificate and other stuff. The representative was knowledgeable and efficient. I think what I liked most was being able to get my questions answered right on the spot as they occurred to me during the process. It may be better for them online because employee time is minimized, but I can't see that it makes a lot of difference for us unless there is no office nearby.
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SSA great if you don't have an unusual situation
