Social Security recipients are not scheduled to receive payments this week.
Each month, the Social Security Administration issues benefits to retired Americans, individuals with disabilities and surviving family members of deceased workers. Given that there are several categories of payments and about 70 million payees, not every claimant receives their money at the same time.
Social Security recipients are paid according to their birth date, except from those who have been claiming Social Security since before May 1997 or who collect Supplemental Security Income. Both of these groups are most often paid in the first week of the month.
Normally, retirees who don't receive SSI or who started claiming after May 1997 receive their payment on the second Wednesday of the month, which usually falls in the second week. However, in November, their payment is scheduled to be made in the third week, on November 13.
Though this may seem like a delay, it's not. Payments for those born in the first 10 days of the month are always scheduled for the second Wednesday, which happens to fall in the third week this November.
Claimants born between the 11th and 20th of any given month are set to receive their payments on November 20, while those with birthdays between the 21st and 31st can expect them on November 27. SSI recipients are also scheduled to be paid at the end of this month for December, as the usual payment date falls on a weekend.
The SSA recommends that beneficiaries who have not received their monthly payment on the expected date wait three working days before contacting the agency. Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are not considered working days.
Benefits for all Social Security recipients are expected to be boosted by 2.5 percent for 2025 under the annual cost-of-living adjustment.
The 2.5 percent increase means a beneficiary receiving $1,870 per month from the SSA could see their monthly payment rise by about $46.80 next year, according to Mary Johnson, an independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst. However, it is a far cry from COLAs issued in recent years.
"The 2025 COLA will be the lowest received by Social Security beneficiaries since 2021, at the same time inflated prices persist on key essentials such as housing, meats, auto insurance, any type of service and repairs," Johnson told Newsweek in October.
The 2023 COLA was the largest administered since 1981, with beneficiaries receiving an 8.7 percent boost following a period of high inflation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson said, "Despite it being the lowest COLA since 2021, a 2.5 percent COLA would be considered about average."
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