Mysterious extra Social Security deposit - COLA increase for spouse?

The exact same thing happened to me! Got my regular payment, then 2 days later another small deposit. When I checked my MySocialSecurity account, there was some vague notice about "payment adjustments" but no actual explanation. Tried calling but gave up after 45 minutes on hold. Following this thread to see if anyone knows what's happening.

This is likely related to the 2025 COLA implementation. What sometimes happens is the system processes the COLA increases in batches, and occasionally the adjustment amount gets sent as a separate payment instead of being incorporated into the regular monthly amount. This is especially common when there are multiple beneficiaries on one record or when you have different types of benefits (retirement + spousal, for example). If your husband's payment didn't increase at all, that's something to look into. All Social Security benefits should receive the 3.1% COLA for 2025 unless there's some offsetting factor like an increase in Medicare premiums or a change in his benefit calculation. The separate small payment you received might be a retroactive adjustment or partial COLA payment.

i had something KINDA like this happen last year but it was actualy them fixing an underpayment from the previous 2 months!!! they didnt tell me nothing about it just suddeny deposit appeared. check your my SSA account and look in the message center, sometimes they put notices there but dont sent u an email about it!!! also look at your payment history screen, sometimes it has a tiny explaination next to weird payments.

Wait hold up - are you sure it was actually from SSA? I got a weird small deposit last month but it turned out to be a refund from my insurance company that just said "FED BENEFIT" on my bank statement which made me think it was from Social Security at first. Double check the exact deposit name/code on your statement.

THE SSA IS ALWAYS MESSING THINGS UP!! I bet this is just another example of their broken systems not working right. They probably meant to increase both your payments but only did yours, then realized they forgot your husband's COLA and sent it separately. AND GOOD LUCK GETTING A STRAIGHT ANSWER FROM THEM!!! My son has been trying to fix a payment issue for 4 MONTHS and every time he calls he gets different information. It's RIDICULOUS how they treat people!

If you want a definitive answer without the endless hold times, I'd recommend using Claimyr. I was in a similar situation last year with an unexplained adjustment and spent days trying to get through to SSA. Finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) and they got me connected to an agent in under 20 minutes. There's a short video that explains how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU In my case, the mysterious payment turned out to be a retroactive COLA adjustment for months where they had initially calculated my benefit incorrectly. The agent was able to explain exactly what each dollar amount represented. Much better than guessing!

my moms payment went up but my dads didnt change either! they told him its because his medicare premium also went up by almost the same amount as the cola so it looked like no change in the final deposit. maybe check if ur husbands medicare premium changed?

Just to follow up on some of the great suggestions here: 1. Definitely check both your and your husband's Medicare premiums, as premium increases can offset COLA increases. 2. If your husband receives SSDI and you receive retirement benefits, they may process on different schedules. SSDI COLA adjustments sometimes process separately from retirement benefit adjustments. 3. The $120 payment could be: - A retroactive COLA adjustment - An underpayment correction - Your husband's COLA being paid separately - An adjustment related to earnings record updates If this doesn't resolve by next month's payment, or if you need clarity sooner, contacting SSA directly is your best option. Your MySocialSecurity account should eventually show an explanation in the message center, but these notices can be delayed by 1-2 weeks after payments are made.