A person who lives in the United States might stop getting a Social Security retirement check for ten main reasons. Once we start getting one of these payments, we should not have any trouble continuing to get our check, but there are times when we might stop getting the benefit.
If this is true, we should know that we could try again to get the check, though this does not always work. Different situations call for different answers, so it is best to look over everything before you act. It is always possible to get in touch with the Social Security Administration and ask any questions we may have.
Here are ten main reasons why Social Security might not send us our monthly retirement checks. They are more important than they seem at first. We might be in one of these groups if our retirement payment stops going into our checking account.
We should stay away from the following things when we get a Social Security check:
- Income too high before full retirement. If you decide to continue working after you start receiving Social Security and your income exceeds certain limits, your payment may be reduced or even suspended, especially if you have not yet reached full retirement age.
- Moving to a country where benefits cannot be sent. If you move to a place like Cuba or North Korea, where the US government cannot send you payments, Social Security will suspend benefits.
- Death of the benefit holder. When a person receiving Social Security dies, payments automatically stop. However, their family members may be eligible for survivor’s benefits.
- Failure to respond to Social Security requests. If the SSA sends you letters requesting information or updates and you do not respond, you could face a temporary suspension of your payments until you update your situation.
- Debts to the federal government. In some cases, if you owe money to the government, for example, for unpaid taxes or federal loans, Social Security could withhold part of your payments to cover those debts.
- Being imprisoned. If you are in prison for more than 30 days due to a criminal conviction, you will temporarily lose your right to receive Social Security benefits for the duration of your imprisonment.
- Fraud or error in your application. If Social Security discovers that there was an error in your application or that you got benefits improperly, they can suspend your payments and ask you to return the money.
- Changes in your immigration status. If you are a non-citizen resident and lose your legal status in the US, Social Security benefits may be suspended.
- Failure to keep your information up to date. If you do not update your bank details or your address when Social Security asks you to, you could stop getting your payments, as they will not be able to send them correctly.
- Review of your work credits. If Social Security reviews your work history and determines that you do not meet the credit requirements to receive benefits, they could suspend them.
If we know all of this, we can better avoid the bad situation of not getting our Social Security payment. That is something that no American wants to happen, so we need to keep that in mind.
