When will my payment/backpay come?
 

Hi everyone. I'm really hoping some of you with experience can help me here. I had my Social Security hearing on June 6th and received a Fully Favorable decision in the mail on June 27th. My lawyer told me there's nothing to do now but wait for the payment to be deposited into my account, which is killing me. I have amassed a lot of bills over the past two and a half years...

I called Social Security and they confirmed what my lawyer said, that my claim was sent to the Baltimore payment center on June 25th. My lawyer also gave me an approximate figure of my monthly payment from a Social Security PIA report that was run on January 6th of 2011. Accoding to the report, my PIA is about $1200 and I wondered if that PIA will really be my monthly ammount or if they will reduce it from there? I had read on the internet that if you collect disability or retire before the full retirement age, they reduce it.

My big question is how long does it usually take Baltimore to process payments and when can I expect to see it in my bank account. I'm at almost 4 weeks from when I got my decision from the judge. Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Since you elected direct deposit, I strongly suggest that you start checking your account by phone daily!

Direct deposits of back pay SSDI payments usuaully take 30-60 days. Sometimes sooner. Mine took approximately 3-4 weeks after I received my final approval letter.


Congrats on your final approval. :hug:

Thank you very much! What's you take on the PIA thing? Do you think it will be the same number my lawyer found in the file from the report Social Security ran in January?

Anyone else recently been through the process and have any feedback?

I have a phone # for the Baltimore payment office: 410-966-3578 (Jerry). Make sure they have your bank acct. # correct. They had a wrong acct.# for me and it took an extra 2 months to get backpay. Hope this helps.

I don't know if you are saying that you got back pay in 3-4 weeks, or if you were getting regular payments in that time. I myself got officially approved on April 7, 2011 and received first monthly SSDI benefits on May 3rd. VERY quick. Has now been over 100 days and I still haven't received back pay. I was told by national number today that my pay was put on high priority on June 22. (Whatever that means.):confused:

It was my back pay. The following month I started receiving my normal monthly payment.

If you elected DD, I do not understand the holdup. If you have an attorney, suggest that you two have a chit chat. High priority = huge backlog? :confused:

Have no clue what a PIA is. :confused: When I was in the Rat Race, every year around my birthday, I received a statement from SS. This statement booklet lists every job I've ever had (dates), SS amount, SSDI amount, work credits, etc.
The amount of SSDI in my last statement was right on the money right down to the last penny! :eek:

I called the 800 number yesterday and the person seemed to be a good one (I've talked to some beauties in the last 2 1/2 years). The rep looked through my file, reiterated that the payment processing center has had it since June 24th and then told me someone in the Baltimore office began working my file this past Tuesday.

I'm guessing that's a good sign, but I have no idea what all is involved in what they do. I have no offsets, no workmen's comp or anything like that and it's straight SSDI, no SSI.

This wait is killing me... still nothing in the bank account and no letter. Does anyone know what they actually do in Baltimore and how long it usually takes? Since the Social Security people said they started working on it, it's been a week.

I got my letter at the beginning of last May, didn't see a dime until late July? I think....Baltimore had it, Baltimore sat on it, Baltimore held it because the lawyer fee was coming directly out of it, and he had 60 days to request a higher fee than the agreed upon, state determined amount (he didn't, good thing or we would have had a serious problem), then they got around to processing it and giving me my years of back pay. I didn't even get my letter telling me all the details of the payment/payments until late July, because even tho they had printed it, someone had it sitting with my file waiting for the lawyer to have his chance to ask for more. Looks like most people got much more prompt service than I did, but you might not want to hold your breath just yet.

Also, if it is a big chunk of back money, they DO NOT take income tax out of it, yet you may end up owing money, depending on your overall financial situation. So before you decide what to do with all of it, look into the tax aspect and put that money aside, or next April will be a really rude awakening.

Thanks for sharing your experience, winic1. I'm not going to lie, that sounds horrible and I am praying it doesn't happen to me. With the back pay, I'm going to have an accountant ammend previous tax returns to include it to avoid a huge problem in April. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

Contact your attorney. Make him/her work for his cut off YOUR backpay. ;)
The attorney will be able to find out (or he/she may already know) if there is a serious backlog of direct deposit payments in your state.

It is reasonable to expect the first payment 30-60 days from the date of the WRITTEN favorable decision (a verbal decision has zero value for the payment center). It is reasonable to expect retroactive benefits to be paid 60-90 days after the written decision.

There is no one in the payment center twiddling their fingers, waiting for your written decision to arrive. Every component of SSA has a higher workload than can be taken care of in an expedititious manner. Every part of SSA has too much work to do.

If you even filed an SSI claim, even one that got denied, the existance of that claim can create a delay by the payment center in issuing retroactive benefits to be sure that no SSI windfall offset will apply.

Janke, when I mentioned getting a decision from the judge, I meant a written decision received in the mail. I realize there is nobody twiddling their fingers, but I also realize the average turnaround time right now seems to be 30 days for Baltimore. A representative of Social Security told me that they have had my case in the processing center since June 25th and their records show notations of them beginning work on it last Tuesday. My question was how long does it actually take for them to process it once they begin working it, not once it was placed in their queue.

Maybe I sound like I'm not being reasonable, but please try and remember that you don't know my situation or why I'm so persistent. I am 36 years old, married with 4 kids and disabled through no fault of my own. I would give anything to be able to work again and support my family, yet I can't and I am currently in default on many of my bills. Oh, and there was never an SSI claim.

You stated that your big question was how long does it usually take. That is the question I tried to answer. When I was talking about reasonable expectations, I considered the backlogs in the payment center, the cutoff dates for checks to be issued, all the work that still has to be done by the payment center before the benefits are paid. I actually understand your desire to get paid as soon as possible, but none of that changes that every component of SSA has always had excessive amounts of work to do that make it difficult to impossible to pay you on your schedule.

Asking how long a case will take is kind of like asking how long it will take a traffic jam to clear up or how long it will take in one grocery line over another. There are variables in your claim that may or may not be evident in another claim. The claims authorizer on your claim may be a recently promoted benefits authorizer who needs additional review or it could be a 20 year SSA veteran who can make all decisions indepedently. The claims rep who took your claim in the initial inteview may have never gotten all relevent proofs that are required for the non-medical adjudication. Or made an error that needs resolution. Impossible to guess. I stand by my answer.

I find it a bit odd that you would not have filed for SSI, a public assistance disability program, when you are default on many bills. Perhaps whatever income you do have is still too high for SSI but not enough for your living expenses. But it is your life and no one can or should force you to apply for SSI. But even though the payment computations for SSI are done in your local office, you still have to provide sufficient evidence of income and resources, and the staff in your local office has to have time to adjudicate your claim. SSI is not always paid more quickly that SSDI.

Just wanted to let everyone know, my backpay is in my bank account! It took a little over 30 days! My regular payment will start next month. Thank you all for your time and help.

Unusual for it to take that short of time. Nice for you that it worked out so well.

Not really. I got mine 3-4 weeks after my final approval letter back in 2005. It could have been sooner. I first checked my acct at the 4th week when I discovered my back pay.