I was born in October, 1949. I was able to do a file and suspend before the deadline in April 2016. In March 2018 I received a letter from Social Security that my potential benefit had increased to $3,240.10 to give me credit for the past months that I had delayed receiving retirement benefits. Later in 2018 I started benefits and received my first check on 10/17/2018.

I have not received credit or benefits for the period January through October 2018.

Having read your answers to others regarding delayed retirement credits, I have been patient.

However, has the automated system missed me or have the automated recomputations still not been done?

I have tried calling Social Security but no one there has been helpful. Should I file a SSA 561, request an in person appointment, or continue to be patient?

Thanks!

Hi,

You say that you haven't received "credit or benefits" for January 2018 through October 2018, so I'm not sure if you're referring to missing actual monthly benefit payments, or if you haven't received all of your delayed retirement credits (DRC) for the months that you didn't collect benefits after your full retirement age (FRA).

To clarify, if you received your first regular monthly payment in October 2018, that payment was for the month of September 2018. If that's when you asked to have your benefits reinstated, then you'd be due DRCs for the months October 2015 through August 2018. The last 8 DRCs (i.e. for January 2018 - August 2018) wouldn't be creditable until your monthly benefit payment for January 2019, which would have been payable in February 2019.

However, if you asked to have your benefits reinstated retroactive to January 2018, then Social Security should have paid you back pay for January to August of 2018, but you wouldn't receive any DRCs for 2018. In any case, if you feel that you haven't received the correct amount of benefits then you'll need to work with Social Security to get it straightened out. Social Security offices are currently closed to the public, so the only way to communicate with them is by phone or mail.

You could submit a form SSA-561 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-561.pdf) explaining what you believe is incorrect about your benefits, and if you're missing actual monthly benefit payments that's probably your best bet. Or, if you're only missing credit for some DRCs then you could ask for a manual recomputation of your benefit rate using a form SSA-795 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-795.pdf). I don't have enough details about your case to be able to give you any specific advice, however.

Best, Jerry