Social Security sent me an unexpected extra payment in February - is this happening to others?

Yes! Same thing happened to me too! Got my regular SS retirement on Feb 12th (my payment day) and then another deposit showed up yesterday marked as SSA TREAS. I thought I was seeing things. Mine was for $1,897 which is exactly what my monthly payment is. I'm freaking out wondering if I should spend it or if they'll just take it back automatically.

This is most likely a system error at SSA. They occasionally have payment system glitches that result in duplicate payments. DO NOT spend this money. The SSA will realize the error and either automatically withdraw the funds or send you an overpayment notice. You should report it to avoid potential penalties. The official process is to call and report the overpayment, but you might want to document this by sending a message through your MySocialSecurity account as well, so you have a paper trail showing you tried to report it promptly.

This happened to my mom last year! She got double payments in April and did nothing about it, just kept the money. Then in June they sent her a nasty overpayment letter and reduced her checks for 6 months to get it back. Plus she had to pay a small penalty fee. Definitely call them!!

This is almost certainly related to the SSA payment system update they implemented in January. There have been several reports of duplicate payments this month. The SSA is aware of the issue and will likely be contacting affected beneficiaries soon. You should: 1. Document the duplicate payment (screenshot your bank statement) 2. Avoid spending the funds 3. Contact SSA to report the issue (this helps establish good faith) 4. Monitor your MySocialSecurity account for notifications If you need to reach SSA directly, be prepared for long wait times. The payment processing group specifically handles these issues.

I would CALL THEM IMMEDIATELY!!! SSA makes mistakes all the time and THEY ALWAYS BLAME US!!! I got overpaid years ago and didn't notice and they took my TAX RETURN without even telling me first!!! Don't trust them to fix it automatically!!

I had to deal with almost the exact same situation last year. Spent almost 3 days trying to get through to someone at SSA about an unexpected payment. If you're having trouble reaching them by phone (which you probably will), I'd recommend using Claimyr (claimyr.com). It's a service that gets you through to a live SSA agent without the endless hold times. I was skeptical but they got me connected in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for days. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU that shows how it works. Definitely worth it for situations like this where you need to talk to someone quickly.

my brother in law says not to report it because SS ows us anyway with the small COLAs they give us lol but my daughter says thats bad advice and you should definitely report it

I'm really curious about this. When did everyone receive their extra payment? Was it all on the same day or different days? I wonder if this is happening nationwide or just in certain regions. And is it affecting both retirement and disability payments? Maybe it's related to the COLA increase this year? So many questions!

UPDATE: I finally got through to SSA after using the Claimyr service someone suggested below (it actually worked!). The agent confirmed there was a system error affecting some beneficiaries and they are aware of the duplicate payments. She documented everything in my account and said I should just leave the money alone - they will automatically withdraw it within 2-3 weeks. She said I won't face any penalties since it was their error, but it was important that I reported it. Thanks everyone for your help!