First and foremost, in order to have credits you must have worked first. Then, you must have paid taxes to Social Security for the work you did. What is more, to claim Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits you will have to comply with a recent work test. The following thing Social Security will have to ask you for is a duration work test. Once they have gathered all those things, you will need a certain number of credits to claim it depending on your age.
So, there is no fixed number of credits for all applicants. There are several rules for some age groups, so you need to find out what is relevant to you. Let’s begin with the youngest group. If you are younger than 24 years old, it might be the case that you qualify by having 6 credits. But only if you earned those six credits in the period of three years that ends when your disability begins.
For those who would like to claim Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) but are older than 24 and 31 at the most, there is a change in the number of credits and the way to do it. Generally, you might qualify if you have credit for having worked half the time between the age of 21 and the start of your disability. Let’s imagine that your disability starts at the age of 27. You will need 12 credits which are the same as 3 years of work.
What is the number of credits to qualify for SSDI benefits if you are 31 years old or older?
In order to claim SSDI benefits if you are 31 years old or older, you may need as many as 20 credits. Those 20 credits must have been earned in the period of ten years right before your disability started. As you can see, there is a big difference between the 6 credits for those at the age of 24, the 12 credits for a 27-year-old, and the 20 for the oldest group.
Some people do not think about the number of credits they get. If they knew that they could get more by having higher earnings, they would probably do something about it. There are limits though. If you earn $1,510 in all the covered earnings for just one year, you can get 1 credit. The highest number of credits per year is 4 currently.
Just as a reminder, there are some of you that do not know what duration of work tests do. This type of test measure how much work you have done so far. So, from the day that you started working until you stopped working due to your disability. Remember that the requirements for those who are older become more demanding and difficult to fulfill. Explore other options apart from SSDI if you do not meet the requirements like SSI.