Will Social Security pay retroactive benefits for retirement application filed in February?

Social Security benefits are actually paid in the current month, not for the previous month. So March benefits are paid in March. And yes, if your application is approved in June (which would be a fairly normal processing time these days), you would get a lump sum payment for all months you were eligible. One important detail though - your first month of eligibility depends on when you apply and your age. If you've already reached your Full Retirement Age (FRA), you can get up to 6 months of retroactive benefits before your application month. If you're taking early retirement, you only get paid starting with your application month - so applying in February means February would be your first eligible month in that case.

Im pretty sure the SS payments are for the PREVIOUS month but they're paid the NEXT month. Like my mom gets her January payment in February. At least thats how it works for her.

When I filed for retirement benefits last year, it took almost 5 months to process. But YES, I did get a nice lump sum payment that covered everything from my application month forward. Just be aware that Social Security payments are made based on your birth date: - If your birth date is 1st-10th: You're paid on the second Wednesday of the month - If your birth date is 11th-20th: You're paid on the third Wednesday of the month - If your birth date is 21st-31st: You're paid on the fourth Wednesday of the month And yes, each payment is for the previous month (January benefits paid in February, etc.). So if your application finally processes in June, and your birthday is on the 5th, you'd likely get your lump sum around the second Wednesday of June, covering February through May. Just make sure your direct deposit information is set up correctly!

I WAITED OVER 6 MONTHS for my retirement application to process last year!!! Called SSA literally 50+ times and NEVER got through to a human. The website just showed "pending" for months with ZERO updates. When I finally did get approved, they backdated everything to my application date but the wait nearly RUINED ME financially!!! The system is BROKEN!!

After trying to call SS for weeks about my application status, I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to an agent in under 10 minutes. They basically hold your place in line and call you when they have an agent. Saved me hours of frustration. Check out their demo video at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU - their website is claimyr.com. If you're planning to check on your application status, definitely worth knowing about.

Just reminding everybody payments come on different days depending on your birthday. My payments always come on the 4th Wednesday cause my bday is the 29th.

One more thing I should mention - make sure you understand that if you're filing after your Full Retirement Age (which it sounds like you are since you mentioned being 67), you're eligible for up to 6 months of retroactive benefits before your application month. So if you apply in February 2025, you could potentially get benefits dating back to August 2024. This is something they should ask you about during the application process, but sometimes they don't clearly explain it. If you want those retroactive benefits, make sure to specifically request them. If you don't want the retroactive benefits (some people prefer to have a higher monthly amount instead), you can decline them.

My sister just went through this in December. She applied right before Thanksgiving and just got her first payment last week! They did backpay her for December and January though so thats something to look forward to. She said the online tracker thingy never updated either so don't rely on that.