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YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY | Davenport, Iowa Office

By Pam Shaw
Social Security District Manager
Davenport Social Security Office

SOCIAL SECURITY CELEBRATES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

March is Women’s History Month.  It is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the achievements of women.  Social Security provides vital benefits and financial protection for women.

Nearly 55% of the people receiving Social Security benefits are women. Today, more women work, pay Social Security taxes, and earn credit toward monthly retirement income than at any other time in our nation’s history.

Women also have longer average life expectancies than men and tend to live more years in retirement. This means women have a greater chance of exhausting other sources of income. It’s important for women to plan early and wisely for retirement.

Our online booklet, Social Security: What Every Woman Should Know found at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10127.pdf, provides detailed information about how life events can affect a woman’s Social Security retirement benefits.  These events may include marriage, death of a spouse, divorce, self-employment, and other life or career changes.

Your earnings history will determine future benefits, so we encourage you to verify that the information in your record is correct. You can create a personal my Social Security account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount to review your full earnings history.  You can also view your Social Security Statement using your personal my Social Security account, to get estimates of future benefits and other important planning information.

If you find an error in your earnings record, it is important to get it corrected so you receive the benefits you earned when you retire. Our publication, How to Correct Your Social Security Earnings Record at www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10081.pdf,  provides you with details on how to make a correction.

Learn about how Social Security benefits women at www.ssa.gov/people/women. Please share this information with your loved ones.

SLAM THE SCAM: HOW TO SPOT GOVERNMENT IMPOSTERS

Do you know how to spot a government imposter scam?  Knowing how to identify potential scammers will help safeguard your personal information.

There are common elements to many of these scams.  Scammers often exploit fears and threaten you with arrest or legal action.  Scammers also pose as Social Security or other government employees and claim there’s a problem with your Social Security number (SSN) or your benefits. They may even claim your SSN is linked to a crime.

When you identify a potential scammer:

• Hang up right away or ignore the message.
• Never give personal information or money.
• Report the scam immediately to our Office of the Inspector General at oig.ssa.gov/scam-awareness/report-the-scam.

If you owe money to Social Security, we’ll mail you a letter with payment options and appeal rights.  We only accept payments electronically through Pay.gov, Online Bill Pay, or physically by check or money order through our offices.

We will never do the following:

• Threaten you with arrest or legal action because you don’t agree to pay us money immediately.
• Promise a benefit increase in exchange for money.
• Ask you to send us gift cards, prepaid debit cards, wire transfers, internet currency, cryptocurrency, or cash through the U.S. mail.

Scammers continue to evolve and find new ways to steal your money and personal information.  Please stay vigilant and help raise awareness about Social Security-related scams and other government imposter scams.  For more information on scams, please visit www.ssa.gov/scam.

Tell your friends and family about government imposter scams. Let them know they don’t have to be embarrassed to report if they shared personal financial information or suffered a financial loss. The important thing is to report the scam right away.

Together, we can “Slam the Scam!”

GETTING TWO SSI PAYMENTS IN ONE MONTH

For most months in the year, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients get their SSI payment on the first day of the month.  But when the first day of the month falls on the weekend or a federal holiday, you receive your SSI payment on the last business day before the first day of the month.  That means you may get two SSI payments in the same month.

We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment.  It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.

Here’s how this will work in April 2023. April 1, 2023, falls on a Saturday, so we will issue your SSI payment for the month of April on March 31, 2023.  In this example, you get two SSI payments in March.

The first March payment, on March 1, is your regularly scheduled payment for March.  The second March payment, on March 31, 2023, is your SSI payment for the month of April.

On our website, we provide a Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments for the current and upcoming calendar year at www.ssa.gov/pubs/calendar.htm.

Securing today and tomorrow starts with being informed.  Please share this information with your friends and family.