It doesn't hurt to call occasionally on the toll free SS 800 #, just to make sure your back pay hasn't been erroneously routed through the wrong office. That happened with mine, but a call straightened it out. The longer you have to wait, the bigger the retroactive benefit amount, so there's 2 sides to the story. I used to work in a psychiatrict hospital, and we admitted a transient man, who apparently hitchhiked all over the country and couldn't even recall that he had ever signed up for benefits. He appeared quite indigent, and he stayed with us for several months. One day, I got a call from Reimbursement office advising that they had taken his hospital bill out of the retroactive benefits that had materialized. After this, the hobo of the rode still had $78,000. He would NOT accept it, fearing that, to do so, would be theft. He was quite emphatic about it, so we found him a nursing home and sent him and his money along with him. Keep calling! billie