The start of a new month means the start of a new calendar for United States Social Security payments. And thanks to this calendar, retirees can find out on which day they will get each of their retirement checks. The Administration divides retirees into as many as four different groups so that the checks can be sent out in an orderly fashion.
Since one group of beneficiaries gets paid in the first few days of the month and another group gets paid in the last or second to last week of the month, it is logical that some retirees may wonder if it is possible to change the day they receive their Social Security check. And the answer is no, this is impossible and once you see the explanation you will understand it perfectly.
As for the day of the payment, the advantage is that each month we will know in advance when we will get each check. Therefore, we will have no problem determining the day on which we will receive our Social Security benefit each month. By this we mean that it doesn’t matter whether we get paid at the beginning or the end of the month if we know exactly when we will receive it.
With a little organization, we will not have financial problems at any time. Still, understanding the payment system is important to determine on what day of the month we will get the next of the Social Security checks.
SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENT SCHEDULE SYSTEM
The first thing to understand is that the Social Security Administration divides retirees into two major groups. Within those two groups there is one particular group that is paid on the 3rd day of the month. The other group is further divided into three different groups that collect their check on the following Wednesdays.
This is the general rule, as there are exceptions where the first group is not paid on the 3rd day, but a little earlier. It all depends on whether the 3rd day of the month is a holiday or a weekend. Even so, we can see a scheme to better understand the situation:
- Retirees with a Social Security benefit prior to 1997. This group is the first to be paid. Normally on the 3rd day, but if that day is a holiday or weekend, the retiree is paid on the immediately preceding business day.
- Retirees with a post-1997 check. Retirees in this group are divided into three different groups depending on their birthday. Thus, these would be the groups:
- 2nd Wednesday of the month. retirees with birthdays between the 1st and 10th of the month.
- 3rd Wednesday of the month. Beneficiaries with birthdays between the 11th and 20th of the month are paid on this day.
- 4th Wednesday of the month. Beneficiaries with birthdays between the 21st and 31st get their payment on this day.
With this information we can understand that it is not possible to change the day of payment, since the personal information is the one that governs the day of payment. Since we cannot change this personal information, we will always get the Social Security check on the same day of the month.