I bought Get What's Yours a couple years ago, and it provided excellent advice as I was preparing to file for Social Security benefits last year. After looking at my finances, I decided to ask for benefits to begin two months after FRA (66 and 2 months). Taking your advice, I wrote on the application that I wanted monthly benefits to include all Delayed Retirement Credits earned to date. Everything seemed fine when the first Social Security deposit was made at age 66 and 4 months with no lump sum payment for retroactive benefits. However, it did not include DRCs. After asking, someone from the SSA pointed out a little-known provision on RS 00615, Computation of Monthly Benefits Amounts, indicating that DRC increases are effective "in January of the year following the year the increment months were earned." January has come and gone, and while the COLA increase was there, the DRC increases were not. The February payment also doesn't reflect a DRC increase. I filed a Request for Reconsideration in mid-January, but there was no response. After calling the SSA today, I was told system updates haven't been done yet, they will be done in March, and a letter should arrive by the end of March. Is the SSA being truthful?

Hi. The part that you were told about your delayed retirement credits (DRC) not being credited until effective with your payment for the month of January is correct, but you almost certainly won't see the increase as soon as this March. My understanding is that the automated recomputation process that Social Security runs to credit partial year DRCs are only done every other year, so you may not actually see your rate increase until the latter part of 2023. You will, though, be paid any back pay due when the recomputation is processed.

The only way that you can receive immediate credit for all of the DRCs that you've accrued is if you claim benefits effective with January, or the month in which you reach age 70. Otherwise, you must wait for Social Security's automated recomputation process to run before receiving your DRC credits.

Best, Jerry