Do Retirees Now Need to Visit a Social Security Office to Apply for Benefits?

The Trump administration's policy agenda extends to most government agencies, including Social Security. The administration is focused on rooting out potential fraud in the program as part of a broader effort to reduce the United States' bloated budget, which resulted in a deficit of over $1.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024.

This has spurred the Social Security Administration (SSA) to implement more anti-fraud measures. In turn, these measures have confused some retirees, who are trying to understand how the new policies will impact how they register for benefits and what they must do to confirm their identities if called into question. Do retirees now need to go to a Social Security office to apply for benefits?

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What's changing?

According to information posted on the SSA's website and updated on April 14, the agency is strengthening its anti-fraud measures in order to protect personal information, which bad actors can gain access to on the dark web and steal the identities of retirees. If retirees already receive benefits and are not planning to change their direct deposit information, then not much will change. They will continue to receive benefits and will not need to prove their identities or take further action.

However, if retirees are applying for benefits or seeking to change their direct deposit info, this is where the new rules may come into play. Perhaps the easiest way to conduct these activities is to create a my Social Security account online, which retirees can use to verify their identities. This gateway has been around for years, and the agency has been pushing more Social Security-related business on the portal for some time. The portal features multi factor authentication to get access, although retirees can use a landline as one authentication method.

Retirees who use this gateway will likely not need to visit a Social Security office because they can change direct deposit information and apply for benefits on the portal. Retirees can also still apply for benefits over the phone. However, if a retiree does not have access to the internet and wants to change direct deposit information, they will need to visit a field office.

Additionally, the SSA may now flag some retirees as a possible fraud risk when they are applying for benefits over the phone. In this case, that person flagged would need to visit a Social Security office to confirm their identity and finish applying for benefits.

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Who will the new policies affect?

A study published in 2022 by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that about 37% of retirees between the ages of 57 and 70 claimed benefits completely online, meaning they don't visit an office in person or call the agency.

The SSA recently pointed out that about 40% of direct deposit fraud happens from calls to the agency to change direct deposit info, and using personal questions to confirm identity has proven ineffective. The agency also said it expects to flag about 70,000 of the 4.5 million claims registered by phone as potential fraud risks. The SSA has long dealt with concerns about long wait times. With the agency looking to cut as much as 12% of its workforce, wait times could increase, and it may take the SSA longer to resolve its backlog of claims.

While the anti-fraud rules are new and it's difficult to know the exact impact just yet, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which describes itself as a nonpartisan research and policy institute, said the changes could prove difficult for the impacted retirees. "Many seniors and people with disabilities lack internet service, computers, or smartphones, or the technological savvy to navigate a multi-step, multi factor online verification process," the Center said, adding that 6 million seniors live at least 45 miles from a Social Security office.

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