The checks for payments related to the Social Security Administration follow a calendar announced by the Administration itself. The Social Security Administration publishes this payment calendar at the end of each year so that pensioners can know in the following year the days on which they will receive all types of pension payments.
Within the calendar mentioned above, there is also the Supplemental Security Income. This payment is related to a reduced group of pensioners and users with disabilities who have low economic levels. Therefore, not all beneficiaries who collect a Social Security benefit can receive SSI as a monthly benefit.
In addition to all this, it should also be noted that the Supplemental Security Income check payment on the 31st of March is an extra payment for this month. Each month there is only 1 SSI payment, with some exceptions, such as March 2023. There is a requirement that must be met in order to receive it. There is also an extra requirement if you want to receive it on the same day that Social Security sends it.
Pensioners who receive the check on March 31, 2023
The group of retirees who receive the March 31, 2023 benefit is only those who have Supplemental Security Income accepted. The rest of the retirees cannot have this payment, since it is only for beneficiaries of this type of benefit. Also, it is not mandatory to be an age pensioner, since retirees for other reasons also have access to this check.
The 31st of March is on the calendar for those retirees with Supplemental Security Income already accepted. If we do not have this payment already accepted we will not be able to receive it. It is essential to understand this to avoid misunderstandings. If our SSI check is in the process of being accepted, we will not receive the next payment, as we would have to wait until the next month to receive it.
Who can apply for SSI?
There are several requirements to apply for Supplemental Security Income. Not all retirees can apply for this benefit, even if they are already receiving a Social Security check. U.S. citizens who can receive this check are:
- Retirees over the age of 65.
- Users with disabilities.
- Blind users.
Thus, you must be over 65 years of age to be able to have this check every month. Or it is also possible to request this payment if we have a disability or are blind. However, it is not enough to meet one of these requirements to have the check, since it is also mandatory to have low income and low resources.
At the end of the day, this benefit is created so that millions of citizens without sufficient resources can pay their bills, buy food and cover other mandatory monthly expenses.
Why is there a double SSI check in March?
The reason we have double Supplemental Security Income checks in March 2023 is very simple. Payments for this benefit are always sent on the 1st of each month. However, the Social Security Administration does not work weekends and holidays, so when the 1st falls on those days, the payment is sent on the immediately preceding business day.
April 1st is a weekend, so it forces Social Security to pay checks in March to avoid delays. Even so, many benefit recipients will not have this check until April itself. In order to have the check on the 31st of March, it is mandatory to do one thing, which is related to the collection method used.
Cash any Social Security check immediately
There is no faster way to collect Social Security Administration benefits than Direct Deposit. It’s the ultimate method for directly obtaining any payment the Administration sends to beneficiaries. For that reason, activating it is essential if you plan to have your Supplemental Security Income check on the 31st of March.
If we do not want to use Direct Deposit as a payment method, we can always use bank deposit. But when doing so we have to take into account that the money could take up to 3 days to appear. The speed of receiving the Social Security payment by bank transfer depends on the bank itself.
Other Social Security Payments in March
There are more payments from the Social Security Administration in March. In total, the SSA sends up to 5 different checks to pensioners. A pensioner can receive up to 3 of those 5 checks, but no more. Here is the complete schedule of SSA payments in March 2023:
- March 1st. Supplemental Security Income payment pertaining to March 2023.
- March 8th. Retirees born between the 1st and 10th of the month can collect the payment on this day. By now, this payment should already be in your beneficiaries’ pockets.
- March 15th. Retirees with birthdays between the 11th and 20th of the month have this day of the month to receive their benefit payment. This is the next SSA payment.
- March 22nd. Any pensioner who has a benefit already accepted and their birthday between the 21st and 31st of the month collects check this day.
- March 31st. Second SSI check that SSA sends out in March. However, this check actually pertains to April.
As we discussed earlier, a retiree could receive up to 3 different checks. On the one hand, he or she would cash 2 SSI checks. On the other hand, he would receive the usual retirement pension payment. If we add up the maximum of these three payments we would have a large amount of money, but that would be impossible, since SSI is only given to low-income recipients.