Although the Social Security payment schedule is something really stable that makes it possible for United States citizens to organize their accounts, sometimes there are irregularities. Among these irregularities we find mainly that one day’s payment is sent on a totally different day. It is usual that in these cases the payment arrives even earlier to the Social Security beneficiaries of that particular group.
And the truth is that there is one group, which is further divided into three different groups, that does not normally have changes on these payment days. This group is the post-1997 beneficiaries, since the payments for this group are always on Wednesdays of each month. And usually Wednesdays are not holidays, so the payments for these groups do not change from normal. Still, in 2024 we will see a change for one of these groups, but it is not common.
But this time we’re not talking about the post-1997 group of retirees, quite the opposite. Retirees with a pre-1997 Social Security check will see changes in February’s retirement payment. So the checks for this day will not be mailed on the 3rd of the month, as is customary, but on a different day.
When will pre-1997 retirees receive Social Security in February?
Unlike the general rule, which is to collect on the 3rd of the month, Social Security beneficiaries with a pre-1997 check will be able to enjoy an early payment of their benefit. The payment day will be January 2nd and in order to get it on the same day it will be necessary to activate a specific option.
If we do not activate this option, the payment will arrive anyway, but a little later. So if you want to receive the payment on the same day of shipment it is advisable to activate Direct Deposit, which is the option we were talking about before. This method of payment is immediate, which means that we do not have to wait a single day to receive the money from Social Security.
In short, if your benefit is prior to 1997 and you activate Direct Deposit, your February retirement payment will arrive in advance. In this case, the payment will be available on the 2nd day of February. Otherwise, the payment could arrive on the following Monday, i.e. the 5th, or even on the 6th, which is Tuesday. Without Direct Deposit the payment money arrives earlier or later depending on our bank.
Beneficiaries who also have Supplemental Security Income will be able to get this other benefit on February 1st without any problems. So if you have these two checks you will be able to enjoy two payments on two days in a row. This will give us a good amount of money in the first week of February, so this is good news for Social Security recipients who have no other source of income.