What Should You Do if Your SSDI Payment Doesn’t Arrive on Time?

Those who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits depend on their monthly payments to support themselves. If your check is late, there are certain steps you can take to ensure you receive it as soon as possible.

If your SSDI payment is ever late, you should contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) to ensure your check was sent to the right location or that the SSA didn’t wrongly pause your monthly benefits. Changes in banking information, mailing information, and income might cause an SSDI payment to not come on time. Errors on the SSA’s behalf might also cause a delay in payments. Recipients should get SSDI checks for as long as they are eligible on either the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of each month, depending on their birthday.

To have our Pennsylvania disability lawyers analyze your case for free, call Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates today at (609) 557-3081 or (215) 515-2954.

What Can You Do if Your SSDI Payment Doesn’t Come on Time?

If your SSDI payment is late, don’t panic. Instead, call the Social Security Administration as soon as possible to alert it to the delay of your check.

The SSA uses a payment schedule to send out monthly SSDI checks. This means that you should receive your benefit on the same date each month. If your payment is late, our West Chester disability lawyers can call the Social Security Administration on your behalf. The SSA requests that SSDI recipients wait three business days from the date they expected to receive their monthly check to call about a payment delay. That said, recipients shouldn’t wait too long to contact the SSA regarding a late payment, as doing so might make them unable to pay their bills or cover other expenses.

After you have been approved for SSDI benefits, there will be a delay before you receive your first check. The SSA abides by a five-month grace period to ensure SSDI recipients still qualify for benefits after approval. After the grace period has ended, you will have to wait one more month before you receive your first check, as each month’s benefit is sent out the following month. This means if your first benefit is for April, you won’t get it until May.

Why Might Your SSDI Payment Not Come on Time?

While Social Security Disability Insurance payments should be received on the same day each month, certain things might cause a check to come late. Some reasons for delays are under the recipient’s control, while others are not.

Changes to Banking Information

One of the main reasons why SSDI checks might not come on time is because of mistakes on a recipient’s behalf. For example, suppose you receive your monthly SSDI payment via direct deposit. If you change your bank account information and do not inform the Social Security Administration, you might not get your monthly benefit on time.

Changes to Mailing Information

A similar situation occurs regarding mailed SSDI payments. If you changed your address and did not tell the Social Security Administration, it might send your check to your previous mailing address, making it seem as though your payment didn’t come on time.

Changes to Income

An SSDI recipient cannot earn a substantial income and get monthly checks simultaneously. If you have earned over the substantial gainful activity limit, which is just over $1,000 per month, your SSDI payments might pause, making it appear as though they are late. Immediately rectifying this is important, as earning too much income over several months might cause those dependent on SSDI benefits to losing access to their monthly checks altogether.

SSA Mistakes

The SSA is a federal agency that might make mistakes from time to time. Wrong assumptions that your disability has been lifted or that you have earned too much income to make you eligible for SSDI benefits might delay your monthly check. Other things, like clerical errors, might also cause SSDI payments to not come on time.

Mailing Delays

Many disability benefit recipients choose to get their monthly Social Security Disability Insurance payments by direct deposit to avoid issues with mailed checks. Mailing delays could cause your check to come late, which is why the Social Security Administration urges recipients to wait several days before contacting the SSA for assistance.

What Time Should Your SSDI Payment Come By?

The Social Security Administration uses a strict schedule to send out monthly SSDI payments. This makes it so recipients can depend on getting their checks on the same day each month.

The SSDI payment schedule is based on a recipient’s birthday. Those born between the 1st and the 10th should get their SSDI payments on the second Wednesday of each month. Those born between the 11th and the 20th will get their benefit checks on the third Wednesday of each month. And those born between the 21st and the 31st will get their SSDI payments on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

Not all SSDI benefit recipients are eligible for payments based on their own earning records. If you get your benefits through your parent’s work history, the day you receive your monthly check will be based on your parent’s birthday.

This schedule is set up so that holidays and weekends have little effect on the sending of SSDI payments. If your payment date happens to fall on a federal holiday, you should get your check the day before. When checks are sent by mail, they might come a bit later but should arrive on or close to the scheduled date. Checks sent via direct deposit should enter an SSDI recipient’s bank account at midnight on their scheduled payment date.

Apply for SSDI Benefits Today

For a confidential and free assessment of your case, call (609) 557-3081 or (215) 515-2954 and speak with the Philadelphia disability lawyers at Young, Marr, Mallis & Associates today.