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If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
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Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned that you should make an appointment at your local SSA office. While getting someone on the phone is difficult, in-person appointments can be scheduled online. I found it much more helpful to sit down with someone who could look at all my options. For survivor benefits, they often prefer to handle these cases in person anyway. When my sister was widowed, she tried doing everything by phone and ended up with incorrect information.
In person is still like a 2 month wait for an appointment where I live. phones are impossible. this whole system is broken
Thank you all for the helpful information. I think my best strategy is to take the reduced survivor benefits now since I need the additional income, and then switch to my own retirement benefit when I reach FRA. I'll try to get an appointment at the local office and also check out that Claimyr service to speak with someone sooner. I definitely want to make sure I understand exactly how much I'll receive and how my part-time work will affect things before making any decisions. This community has been so helpful!
That sounds like a good plan. Just make sure when you talk to SSA that you specifically ask them to calculate both: 1) Your reduced survivor benefit now, and 2) Your projected retirement benefit at FRA. That way you can see the numbers side by side and confirm this strategy makes financial sense in your specific situation. Wishing you all the best during this difficult time.
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@casual_commenter - Yes, Claimyr absolutely works. My call was connected to SSA in under 15 minutes after trying for days on my own. Saved my sanity during my disability application process.
thx ill try it. need to talk to someone about my application status and im tired of waiting
@OP - Regarding your question about your Quebec marriage certificate being in French and English: The English portion should be sufficient for SSA purposes. However, if the certificate is predominantly in French with just some English elements, having a certified translation ready might save time. SSA may accept it as is, but they could request a translation if they have difficulty verifying details. Also, since your wife worked in a non-covered position (teacher's aide in a district not participating in Social Security), she may be subject to the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) or Government Pension Offset (GPO) if she receives a pension from that employment. This could affect both her own benefits and any spousal benefits. Be sure to mention this when applying.
I didn't even consider the WEP/GPO implications! Her pension is very small (about $750/month) but we should definitely get clear on how that affects potential spousal benefits. Thank you for mentioning this - it's exactly why I'm glad I asked here before applying.
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whats ur pension monthly amount? The GPO reduction is 2/3 of that amount gets taken from ur spousal benefit. So if ur pension is $3000/month, they'll reduce ur spousal benefit by $2000. If ur spousal benefit would be $1500, you'd only get about $0 after GPO. A lot of teachers find out they get nothing after GPO is applied.
My pension is about $4,250 monthly, so 2/3 of that would be around $2,833. I'm not even sure what my potential spousal benefit would be based on my husband's record, but I'm guessing it might be less than the offset amount, which means I'd get nothing? This whole system seems designed to penalize teachers and other public servants.
For your actual application process with GPO, here's what to have ready: 1. Your government pension award letter showing monthly amount 2. Dates of all government employment where you didn't pay into Social Security 3. Any W-2s or earnings records from jobs where you DID pay into Social Security 4. Your marriage certificate 5. Your husband's Social Security number With your FRA in August 2025, I'd apply in early May 2025. This gives them 3 months to process while avoiding any early filing reductions. GPO is complicated enough without adding early filing reductions to the mix!
Thank you for this detailed list! I'll start gathering these documents now so I have everything ready when it's time to apply. Do you know if they need the original marriage certificate or if a certified copy is acceptable?
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I'm just here to say DON'T TRUST the breakeven calculators out there!!! They're all based on a bunch of assumptions that probably don't apply to YOUR specific situation! They don't account for investment returns if you took early benefits and invested them, they don't account for inflation properly, and they COMPLETELY IGNORE the emotional value of reducing your stress NOW rather than later!!! If your job is making you miserable and you have other income sources, claiming early might be the right choice FOR YOU regardless of what the math says about some theoretical future that might never happen!
Fair point about the emotional value - that's hard to quantify. But the SSA calculators do account for cost of living adjustments. And if someone is disciplined enough to actually invest the early benefits rather than spending them, that's great, but most people don't do that in reality.
Thank you all for the helpful responses! I've decided to set up an appointment with SSA to get exact benefit estimates for both my own record and ex-spousal benefits at different ages. I'm also going to talk with my employer about possibly reducing to part-time hours - that might be the perfect compromise to reduce stress while still maximizing my SS benefits. I appreciate all the different perspectives here. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful discussion I was hoping for when I posted my question.
Oliver Wagner
Does anyone know when these changes actually start? I heard 2025 but not sure exactly when during the year?
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Paolo Conti
•suppsed to be January 2025 for the WEP changes but govt always takes longer than they say lol
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GalaxyGazer
I just remembered something IMPORTANT! If you have 30+ years of "substantial earnings" under Social Security, you might be COMPLETELY EXEMPT from WEP even under the current rules!!!! You should check if your 35 years of SS work all count as "substantial earnings" - the threshold changes each year. For 2023 it was around $28,050 I think?? If you have 30+ substantial years you might not even need to worry about WEP at all!!!!
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Keisha Robinson
•Oh that's a great point! I'll have to look at my earnings record and see if I have 30 years above that threshold. Some of my early teaching years at the private school probably had lower salaries, but my corporate years were all well above that amount. This gives me another avenue to check. Thank you!
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