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!
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- DO post tips & tricks to help folks.
- DO NOT post call problems here - there is a support tab at the top for that :)
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congrats on selling ur house! i bet u made a bundle in this market lol
Thanks! Yes, I did ok on the sale. It was getting to be too much to maintain by myself after my husband passed.
Just a note - if you had significant capital gains from selling your house last year, that could potentially affect your tax situation for that year specifically. For a single person, up to $250,000 in capital gains from selling a primary residence can be excluded if you lived there at least 2 of the last 5 years.
my friend has same situation and the apartment manager told her she needed some tax form for her rent but it was for low income housing tax credit thing not for normal taxes!!! maybe thats what ur landlord was talking about???
That could be it! He did mention something about needing to verify my income for the apartment. I'll ask him if that's what he meant. Thank you!
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Quick update on HR 82 - there was actually a hearing scheduled for March 2025 in the House Ways and Means Committee. While this doesn't guarantee passage, it's the furthest the bill has progressed in years. Consider joining advocacy groups like the Social Security Fairness Coalition who are organizing virtual lobbying days this spring. Also, regarding your specific situation, if your spouse's benefit increases in the future (like when he turns 70 if he's delayed claiming), your potential spousal benefit would increase too, which might exceed the GPO reduction at some point.
That's the first bit of good news I've heard about HR 82! I'll definitely look into the Social Security Fairness Coalition. And that's a great point about my husband's benefit - he's 66 now and planning to delay until 70, so his benefit will increase. I hadn't considered that might eventually overcome the GPO offset. Thank you!
Has anyone else noticed that the SSA website barely even EXPLAINS GPO properly???? I had to find out about it from my teacher's union, SSA never warned me until it was too late!!!! The whole system is designed to keep us in the dark!!!!
so true. my dad got blindsided by this after 40 yrs as a firefighter. no warning at all until he applied
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My cousin works for SSA and she told me that only income that had FICA taxes taken out counts for SS benefits calculation. So jobs where you got a W2 and paid into the system. She said distributions from retirement accounts DEFINITELY don't count toward your SS benefit calculation no matter how they're taxed.
Thank you everyone for the helpful information! It's clear that my IRA distributions won't help with Social Security calculations, so I'll focus on continuing my part-time work to replace those zero years. I'll also look into the divorced spouse benefits since we were married for 22 years. I appreciate all the advice!
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Trying to contact SSA to ask questions like this is IMPOSSIBLE these days!! I tried calling for THREE WEEKS straight and couldn't get through. Then I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real SSA agent in under 10 minutes. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU The agent I spoke with confirmed everything the first commenter said - you can't do restricted applications anymore if you were born after 1954. Saved me from making a big mistake with my filing strategy.
This is good advice. Getting accurate information directly from SSA is critical for making these decisions. While the rules I outlined are correct, everyone's situation has unique aspects that might affect their optimal filing strategy.
I tried calling the SS office for MONTHS! Keep getting busy signals or disconnected. Might check out that service, getting frustrated trying to figure this out on my own.
Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! It sounds like my best option is to simply wait until 70 to maximize my own benefit, since the restricted application strategy isn't available to me. I'll encourage my spouse to stick with their plan to file at their FRA. We're fortunate to have savings to bridge the gap until then. I really appreciate all the insights and personal experiences shared here. Social Security filing strategies are so much more complicated than I initially thought!
Sounds like you've made a good decision based on your circumstances. One final tip: about 3-4 months before you plan to file at 70, create a my Social Security account at ssa.gov if you haven't already. This will let you verify your earnings record is correct and get familiar with the online application process. Good luck with your retirement planning!
CosmicCaptain
That's not accurate for this situation. Your neighbor may be referring to filing for her own retirement benefits early, which does permanently reduce them. But in the OP's case, they're on SSDI, which doesn't involve an early filing reduction. At FRA, the SSDI converts to retirement at the full rate, and the spousal benefit is recalculated. The current small spousal supplement won't affect the FRA calculation.
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Emma Davis
oh ok that makes sense! social security rules r so confusing its no wonder everyone gets them mixed up.
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