I turned 68 in July 2015. I filed for S.S. I had deferred two years of S.S. When I went to start my benefits the S.S office gave me one year of deferred increase. They said I had to wait until Jan. 2016 to get the deferred benefits of the second year. It is now August 2016 and still no increase. I have made two appointment and both times they said I had the extra year coming and did the paper work to put it in motion again. But nothing. I don't know where to turn.

Hi,

If you started benefits with the month you reached age 68 in July 2015, your initial benefit amount should have included delayed retirement credits (DRC) for 18 months (i.e. July 2013 through December 2014), or 12%. The remaining 4% increase for the months January 2015 through June 2015 becomes effective with your payment for the month of January 2016.

Social Security adds partial year delayed retirement credits through an automated process. My understanding is that, due to budget cuts, these partial year recomputations are now done biennially rather than annually. Any increase due is paid retroactively to the appropriate month, so you won't actually lose any benefits due to the delay, although I understand it's confusing and frustrating.

Many times, Social Security will manually speed up the recomputation process upon request by the beneficiary, which sounds like you've already done. You could also contact one of your congressional representatives, who may be able to intervene on your behalf. Maybe in doing so, you'll encourage them to provide the Social Security Administration with more funding.

Best, Jerry