My spouse filed for her retirement benefit in her full retirement month when she turned 66. Neither of us have been married before and neither have any children. We are married beyond 10 years. I turned 66 my full retirement age a few months after she did and I filed a restricted application for a spousal benefit only with the plan to let my benefit grow to age 70 and file on my own record and receive the max at 70. We were both born before 1954. Also I felt that if I should predecease my wife then she would get the higher amount of mine which would not only be higher but would also include the delayed credits and all COLA credited over the 4 years from age 66 to age 70.I am now turning 69 and I called to see what my benefit would be now if I filed on my own record in the month I turn 69 which would be a total of 3 years of delayed credits & COLA. I called the national social security number to discuss this but they told me that since I filed 3 years ago at the local Social Security office I had to go through them and they set a phone appointment since the local office is closed due to Covid. About 45 days later on the date that my phone appointment was set for I received a call. I was shocked to hear the gentleman who called me tell me a few things. First of all he gave me a figure that took the PIA amount of my full retirement benefit at 66 and multiplied that by 1.24 which is obviously just the 8% a year credits for 3 years. I asked him why he was not including the 3 COLA increases over the 3 year period and he told me he had used them. He told me it was all included. He clearly did not. The exact PIA multiplied by 1.24 for age 69 and the exact PIA multiplied by 1.32 for age 70 is on the nose what he gave me. We have had 3 COLA in the last 3 years. 1.6%, 2%, and 2.8%. They were not figured in. They were not figured in at all. He then digressed to explain to me what the benefit would be if I filed up to the time I called in to the national number to set the phone appointment which was 3 months earlier than my full 3 year 36 months from my FRA month. He then told me if he backdated my filing 6 months from the 33 month point of my call which would be a total of 27 months from FRA I would receieve a check in a lump sum of about $10,000.00. I told him I just wanted to know what the total benefit would be with COLA & delayed credits because I told him his figures were low and did not include COLA . He told me he already gave that to me. I also asked him to assure me that if I predeceased my wife that since her benefit on her own PIA that she filed at her full retirement month age 66, would be lower than my delayed benefit that she would get the higher amount of mine. He then staggered me with this response. He told me that she would only receive 82.5 % of my PIA and she may be higher with her own PIA. Bear in mind, we both filed at FRA age 66 not any earlier. He told me that the 82.5 % was the law. He told me in no uncertain terms that the spouse of the deceased is not entitled to the delayed credits. Only I get those while alive. Please clarify for me: I am while alive when I file for my benefit on my own record entitled to both the COLA and the delayed credits on my own record. Please answer that for me. The above answers he gave me are incorrect. Number 2: my spouse would get the full amount of my benefit not 82.5 % if I predecease her which would include the COLA & delayed credits. We both filed at FRA not before. She filed for her benefit at 66 and I filed a restricted application at my FRA a few months after she was receiving her benefit. This conversation was very upsetting that I had. I ask that you please answer these questions for me. Also how do I make sure that the person I am talking to figures my correct amount when I file on my own record. I f I filed during the above conversation I would end up getting the wrong benefit. Thank You so much.
Hi,
It sounds like the your concern about your own benefit rate is just a miscommunication, but if you were told that your wife could only get 82.5% of your primary insurance amount (PIA) as your survivor then the Social Security employee misinformed you. The only way that a widow's benefit rate is limited to 82.5% of the deceased worker's PIA is if the deceased worker started drawing reduced Social Security retirement benefits prior to their full retirement age (FRA).
Your Social Security retirement benefit rate will include both cost of living increases (COLA) and delayed retirement credits (DRC), but a person's PIA is automatically increased each year for COLAs that occur after they reach age 62 even if the person hasn't yet filed for benefits. In other words, your PIA today would be higher than it was when you reached FRA because of the Social Security COLAs that have occurred since then. So, when you were told by Social Security that you had already received credit for COLAs, that's true assuming that they are referring to your present day PIA.
When you do apply for your own benefits your benefit rate will be calculated by Social Security's computer system, not by the individual employee with whom you speak. Therefore, there's not much chance that you'll be paid an incorrect amount.
Regarding your wife's survivor rate, if you die before her she will be eligible for the higher of a) your full benefit rate or b) her own rate. And, by your full benefit rate, I'm referring to your full rate at the time of your death inclusive of DRCs and COLAs. Therefore, if you wait until age 70 to start drawing your own benefits you'll get your highest possible benefit rate, and that rate would be payable to your wife as a widow assuming that your rate is higher than her own rate.
You may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) both to determine your correct potential benefit rates and to determine your best strategy for claiming your benefits.
Best, Jerry
