Unexpected extra Social Security deposit & uneven COLA increase between me and spouse - what's going on?

This actually happens sometimes! The separate small payment is likely a retroactive COLA adjustment. If there was any processing delay in updating your husband's record, they might send his COLA increase as a separate payment rather than including it in his regular benefit. The $147 amount sounds about right if his monthly benefit is around $2,450 (6% COLA for January). The system processes millions of payments and sometimes the COLA updates don't all hit at the same time. I'd suggest checking your MySocialSecurity accounts to verify what's happening with both your benefit amounts going forward.

same thing for us!! got my increase with my regular check but hubbys COLA came 2 days later as seperate deposit. we were confused to but its fine

This is actually a common occurrence in January of each year. What you're experiencing is the result of how SSA's payment processing system handles the annual COLA adjustments. Here's what's happening: 1. Your payment received the COLA increase automatically 2. Your husband's record may have a different payment cycle or processing batch 3. Rather than delay his regular payment, the system sends the normal amount on schedule 4. The COLA adjustment is then calculated and sent as a separate payment This mostly happens due to different enrollment dates, different types of benefits, or simply which processing batch your records fall into. Going forward, his February payment should include the COLA increase as part of the regular amount. You can verify all this in your MySocialSecurity accounts, which should show the updated monthly benefit amounts for future payments.

I actually spent THREE HOURS on hold with SSA last week about this exact issue! The agent confirmed the separate deposit was indeed the COLA adjustment for my spouse. They said something about "processing cycles" and that roughly 8% of beneficiaries get their COLA as a separate payment in January. If you need to call SSA about this or anything else, I discovered a service called Claimyr that got me through to a real person in under 20 minutes instead of waiting for hours. Their website (claimyr.com) has a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - absolutely worth it when you need to actually speak with someone at Social Security!

my dad had something similar last year!!! the separate payment was his COLA but turned out the amount was wrong and they had to adjust it again the next month so maybe double check the math

THE WHOLE COLA THING IS A JOKE ANYWAY!!! 6% doesn't come CLOSE to covering how much prices have gone up!! My rent went up 12% and don't even get me started on groceries. Meanwhile they play games with our payments and make it all confusing. And half the time when you try to call nobody answers!!!

Just to follow up on this thread - the reason this happens is that SSA processes retirement benefits and COLA adjustments in batches according to your Social Security number and benefit type. For couples, if you have different last names or were enrolled at different times, your records might be in different processing batches. The good news is that by February, everything should normalize and both payments will include the correct COLA amount as part of the regular monthly benefit. The separate payment is perfectly normal and not a mistake you need to worry about. I recommend checking your benefit verification letters in your MySocialSecurity accounts in early February - they should reflect the updated amounts going forward.