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I see many posts about filing 3 months before you full retirement age to start collection at FRA. Wouldn't that mess up actually being FRA when filing and the added choices you have then etc. ? I remember one poster said they filed a couple weeks shy of the FRA because they were busy moving etc. and they ended up without the usual choices of waiting to FRA.
I don't understand the choices part. The earliest you can file is 3 months prior to your 62nd birthday. After that, you can file anytime, for any date in the future. The exact age you request benefits to start will determine your benefit amount. The choice is yours. Direct deposit to a bank, should preclude any moving issues. Nobody gets checks in the mail anymore to my knowledge.
I don't understand the choices part. The earliest you can file is 90 days prior to your 62nd birthday. After that, you can file anytime, for any date in the future. The exact age you request benefits to start will determine your benefit amount. The choice is yours. Direct deposit to a bank, should preclude any moving issues. Nobody gets checks in the mail anymore to my knowledge.
This is true. The bank where I worked a few years ago didn't require a credit check to open an account....so even someone with shot credit could come in and open a checking account. That was a short time before they went to direct deposit of all checks.
I see many posts about filing 3 months before you full retirement age to start collection at FRA. Wouldn't that mess up actually being FRA when filing and the added choices you have then etc. ? I remember one poster said they filed a couple weeks shy of the FRA because they were busy moving etc. and they ended up without the usual choices of waiting to FRA.
Good point. It shouldn't mess it up, but it could. For those who want the choice of file and suspend or file for ex's benefits, etc., I'd suggest waiting until they have reached FRA before actually filing. SSA will still pay up to 6 months retroactive benefits, if desired.
My neighbor filed in January, her birthday in March and she got her first check mid-May. Guess they have a "skip" month in there between birthday and first month?
Speaking of......she said that checks now come either first or middle of month depending on your birthdate. Does anybody know the cut off days? For instance, my birthday is on the 13th and DH's is on the 26th. Does that mean that I will get my check the first of the month and he will get his the 15th of the month? That might be nice in a way, but since mine is so much less than his, our beginning of the month will be leaner.
My husbands FRA is in April. He will apply and start drawing social security the January before. He will loose maybe $30 per month but he will be able to works at his full time job Jan-Feb and March and still collect his full social security check and not be penalized. That is how we are going to approach it.
Rothbear. the social security site - I'm not on it or I would look, has the dates you receive your check based on your birthdate. Hubbys is 27th and mine 29th and so we will both get check at the same time. I already receive mine (I'm retired), on the the 4th Wednesday of the month. Mine hits my bank on Tuesday however.
Was able to go to the site: if your birthday is on the 1st - 10th deposit will be on 2nd Wed; 11-20 3rd Wed and 21-31 4th Wed. So yours will be deposited on the 3rd WED and his the 4th WED.
Of course many who have been receiving social security since before these new dates were inacted still get a check on the lst of the month as far as I know anyway.
Last edited by pnwretired; 06-16-2013 at 01:38 PM..
If you are starting your benefits when you turn 62, you can't file more than 3 months before your birth month. Other than that, the 3 months before you start thing would apply only if you were concerned that your claim would be complex and take a while to process - such as a case where your birth date is in question, or your birth certificate would be difficult to translate from a foreign language, or you had lots of marriages, or issues with your earning record. You can choose your date, too. For example, if you file 3 months before FRA, you can either start immediately or tell SSA you want to start at FRA.
Another thing - you are considered to have attained your age the day before your birthday. So, for example, when turning 62, if you were born on the 1st or 2nd, you are technically 62 all month. Your benefits don't start until the month in which you are 62 the whole month.
So, if you were born July 2nd, your benefits would start in July. if you were born July 3rd, your benefits start in August. And, they are paid in arrears, not in advance, so your first check wouldn't come until September. There isn't a 'skip month' - the September check is for August's benefit.
Good point. It shouldn't mess it up, but it could. For those who want the choice of file and suspend or file for ex's benefits, etc., I'd suggest waiting until they have reached FRA before actually filing. SSA will still pay up to 6 months retroactive benefits, if desired.
Those were the sort of choices I was referring too. There are some things you cannot do unless you reach FRA before filing, and I wondered if the file 3 months before you want benefits to start advice so often given would mess that up.
I am not concerned with filing at 62 or any other age prior to FRA. But as I said I wondered if you were looking to do file and suspend or such options if you really should do the 3 months before of wait until you are indeed FRA as mentioned by Lenora.
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