Social Safety advantages routinely convert to straightforward retirement advantages at full retirement age (FRA) and this retirement profit can then be suspended. Right here’s the story of 1 incapacity profit recipient’s irritating makes an attempt to take action.

I requested James (a pseudonym) to write down up his expertise in making an attempt to droop his retirement profit beginning along with his reaching full retirement age (FRA) in an effort to maximize his delayed retirement credit and obtain the utmost obtainable retirement profit beginning at age 70. As you possibly can learn in his assertion under, he requested this suspension to happen earlier than reaching FRA. However he was disabled (though his pre-FRA incapacity standing was permitted after he reached FRA). If you find yourself receiving incapacity advantages, your retirement profit routinely begins at FRA. Your incapacity profit simply modifications names. However this computerized change of names offers you no formal technique to droop your retirement profit earlier than it begins. Nor are you able to withdraw your retirement profit as a result of you possibly can solely withdraw an software that you just filed and the disabled by no means get the possibility to file for his or her retirement profit — it simply occurs routinely.

James has most likely misplaced a 12 months of his life in nervousness and upset over his makes an attempt to get Social Safety to answer his request to not have his retirement profit routinely start, however to droop it at full retirement. He despatched this request earlier than he reached full retirement age.

Right here’s Jame’s painful account.

I filed for SS incapacity (DIB) and my software was permitted Dec 2022 retroactive to 2021. My FRA was July 2022 and I needed my DIB to not routinely convert to retirement advantages (RIB) at FRA however to attend till a later date.

Normal SSA apply is to routinely convert DIB to a retirement profit (RIB) at FRA and I contacted them a couple of occasions and acknowledged I didn’t wish to convert however droop my RIB. SSA regularly suggested that I had no selection and conversion was computerized, not non-compulsory.

The incapacity software on-line didn’t permit a future date to be entered for the query asking while you need retirement advantages to start. In June 2022 I reviewed my software with an agent of on the cellphone and was informed once more I had no choice to droop my RIB. (Why then does the appliance ask the query?). In July 2022, I obtained an software abstract and hand wrote to attend till 70 and mailed again to SSA — this request was ignored.

In July 2022, I discovered in SSA’s Program Operation Guide System (POMS) that my request to droop RIB was permitted and the SSA recommendation after many communications was incorrect and deceptive. At this level I despatched a press release to SSA requesting once more that my RIB be suspended upon DIB approval with a POMS reference. By pure luck my timing was good for the reason that POMS states SSA be suggested written or orally the month previous to FRA to droop RIB.

SSA ignored my a number of requests and routinely transformed my DIB to RIB at FRA. Additional cellphone conversations remained constant in SSA saying I had no selection however to routinely convert to RIB at FRA, and there was no real interest in listening to the POMS steering.

In Jan of 2023, I submitted, a reconsideration request. I known as SSA a couple of occasions and so they had no file of this (however confirmed receipt of my earlier, however ignored, request to droop) and so they mentioned on every name that there was a big mail backlog, and I ought to be affected person and no different motion was mandatory.

I perceive that upon approval I might want to return RIB paid since my FRA. My requests ought to permit me to obtain my RIB at 70 on the similar quantity as if I initially utilized for RIB at 70 (i.e.: as if my DIB by no means routinely transformed at FRA).

Whereas I nonetheless look forward to any acknowledgement of my request from SSA in April of 2023, I took the next two steps after SSA confirmed by cellphone to nonetheless don’t have any file of my reconsideration request (I’ve USPS affirmation of supply). I resubmitted my reconsideration request to the regional SSA workplace as a substitute of the native workplace and I despatched a separate request (to a number of SSA places of work to make sure receipt) to instantly droop my RIB (since if my retroactive suspension request to FRA is rarely acted upon I keep away from additional lack of DRCs.)

I additionally found upon my very own analysis that almost definitely after an computerized conversion of DIB, a traditional request of withdrawal of RIB as much as 12 months after graduation doesn’t apply (since I didn’t make the appliance). Usually all my interactions with SSA had been courteous {and professional} even whereas I consider I had obtained incorrect recommendation which was to my drawback, and SSA has not been attentive to my requests to droop my RIB.