Can't reach Social Security Administration? Claimyr connects you to a live SSA agent in minutes.
Claimyr is a pay-as-you-go service. We do not charge a recurring subscription.
Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the SSA
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the SSA drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
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!
Really made a difference
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!
Ask the community...
- DO post questions about your issues.
- DO answer questions and support each other.
- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
Join the conversation
Join the conversation
I'm so confused about all this. Is WEP the same as GPO? My husband has a pension from his county job but I worked regular jobs all my life. Will my SS be reduced too? Sorry if this is a dumb question, just trying to figure this all out before we retire next year.
Not a dumb question at all! WEP and GPO are different: - WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) reduces your OWN Social Security benefit if you receive a pension from work where you didn't pay Social Security taxes. - GPO (Government Pension Offset) reduces spouse/widow(er) benefits if YOU receive a government pension from non-covered work. Since you worked in Social Security-covered jobs and don't have a government pension, your own benefits won't be affected by either provision. Your husband's benefits might be reduced by WEP if his county job didn't pay into Social Security, but that wouldn't affect your benefits based on your own work record.
To answer your original question more specifically, here's how to see what your benefit would be without WEP: 1. Call SSA at 1-800-772-1213 or visit your local office 2. Request a "Detailed Earnings Query" and a "WEP Computation" 3. The WEP Computation will show your PIA (Primary Insurance Amount) both before and after the WEP reduction 4. Ask them to explain which years counted as "substantial earnings" toward reducing your WEP penalty With 22 years of substantial earnings in Social Security-covered employment, your WEP reduction should be 90% of the maximum reduction (which is $647 in 2025). So instead of losing $647, you would lose about $582 per month. However, if some of those 22 years didn't meet the substantial earnings threshold for their respective years, the calculation would be different.
Perfect - this is exactly what I needed! I'll do this asap. And yeah, better to use that Claimyr service rather than waiting on hold for hours again. Thanks everyone for all the helpful info!
Join the conversation
One more thing to consider - if 2025 is your first year receiving benefits, you can use the monthly earnings test rather than the annual one. This special rule is designed for mid-year retirees. So you could start your benefits in November (when you stop working), and SS would only look at your monthly earnings from November and December, not your total 2025 earnings. This is what I did and it worked out perfectly - I got my full benefit amount for the months after I stopped working, even though I'd earned well over the annual limit already.
That sounds like exactly what I need to do. I'll wait until November to apply since I'm stopping work at the end of October. Thanks so much for explaining this clearly!
Did anyone mention that all this is TEMPORARY??? Once you hit full retirement age (66+), the earnings test GOES AWAY COMPLETELY. You can earn a million dollars and still get your full SS. The whole earnings limit thing only applies if you claim before your FRA.
Yes, but OP is turning 62 and wants to claim now, so they're 4-5 years away from FRA. The earnings test is very relevant to their situation right now.
Join the conversation
OMG I've been trying to figure out this exact same thing!!! I'm 66 and so confused about when to take my SS. My husband wants me to wait but I don't think he understands that we might not live long enough for it to matter? Both my parents died at 78 so I'm really worried about waiting too long. Did any of those calculators people mentioned actually help you make a decision yet???
One consideration for married couples is that the lower-earning spouse will inherit the higher-earning spouse's benefit amount when they pass away. So if your husband's benefit is significantly higher than yours, it might make more sense for him to delay (to maximize what you'd get as a survivor) and for you to claim earlier. This is called a "split strategy" and it can be very effective.
Thank you everyone for the helpful advice! I checked out the Open Social Security calculator and it was really enlightening. Based on my family history and current financial needs, I've decided to go ahead and claim my benefits now at FRA. Having that steady $2,750 coming in monthly will ease my immediate financial concerns and let me leave my investments alone during this volatile market. If I end up being the family outlier who lives past 85, I might slightly regret this decision, but the peace of mind now seems worth it. Really appreciate all the perspectives here - gave me a lot to think about beyond just the basic break-even calculation!
Join the conversation
my condolences to ur mom. i went thru something similar when my husband passed in 2020. I was already 79 at that time and had no problems getting survivors benefits. they actually automatically switched me over when they processed the death certificate. maybe there's something unusual about your mom's situation? did she get any kind of special civil service pension or railroad benefits? those can complicate things with the WEP/GPO rules. or maybe your stepdad had been married before and there's an ex-spouse claiming on his record?
Ex-spouses don't affect current spouse survivor benefits at all - both can receive full benefits without reduction. And even with WEP/GPO, she'd still be eligible for survivor benefits, just potentially reduced. The agent simply gave incorrect information. This happens far too often with SSA representatives who aren't properly trained on all the rules.
Update: I want to thank everyone for the advice. We called SSA again this morning (took almost 2 hours to get through!) and spoke with a different agent who confirmed mom IS eligible for survivor benefits. They're processing the change now and said she'll receive her husband's higher benefit amount going forward plus 12 months retroactive benefits. The agent couldn't explain why she was given incorrect information before, but we're just relieved it's being fixed now. We're also scheduling an in-person appointment to make sure everything is processed correctly. Thanks again for all your help - this will make such a difference for her financially!
Excellent news! I'm very glad to hear this is being resolved. That retroactive payment should be substantial and will help make up for some of the lost time. Make sure at the in-person appointment they verify that the benefit amount is correct - she should receive 100% of what your stepfather was receiving, not a reduced amount. Congratulations on getting this fixed.
Maya Jackson
My friend heard this too and panicked for nothing!! The whole system is BROKEN but at least they haven't messed with the FRA earnings rule YET. But watch out - they're always looking for ways to take away our benefits that WE PAID FOR all these years!!!! The real issue isn't people working after retirement - it's the government STEALING from the trust fund for decades!!!!
0 coins
Grant Vikers
•i dont think that's totally accurate about the government stealing from the trust fund they borrow from it but with treasury bonds that pay interest but your right that they need to fix things
0 coins
Bethany Groves
Thank you everyone for your helpful responses! You've really put my mind at ease. I'll go ahead with my plans to start that new job next month when I hit 67. I appreciate all the clarification about the difference between benefit reductions (which won't happen) and potential tax implications (which I'm preparing for). And thanks for confirming this isn't changing anytime soon!
0 coins