Ask Larry

When Will I Receive My Delayed Retirement Credits?

I turned 66 on January 23, 2016 and decided to delay my benefits by 2 months, so I started to collect in March of 2016 instead of January.
Now it is February 2nd, 2017 and I still have not seen any increase in my benefits resulting from the 2 months of delayed retirement credits I should have received.
I have been to the local Social Security office twice in the last year to try to get answers. The first time they told me I would receive the increase in January of 2017. That has come and gone with no increase. The second time (yesterday), they said I should be receiving my increase in January or February, but after searching online for 20 minutes, the agent couldn't find anything in the system verifying that. She said she was going to call me back before 2:00 yesterday. (I'm still waiting). Maybe I'm too impatient, but I would just like an answer about when I might receive my increase.
Thanks.

Hi,

Partial year delayed retirement credits are added through an automated process, and due to budget limits, Social Security has given this process a relatively low priority. My understanding is that these automated computer runs to add DRCs are only done every other year, so it could be until sometime in 2018 before you see an increase. However, the increase will be retroactive to January 2017 (i.e. the payment due in February 2017), and they will pay you any accumulated back pay.

Best, Jerry

Posted: 
Feb 2 2017 - 3:00pm
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