Social Security disability and retirement benefits will be paid this week to millions of recipients.
This week on Friday, November 1, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and those who have been claiming retirement benefits since before May 1997 will be paid their monthly benefit allotment. All Social Security benefits are paid directly into bank accounts by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for its tens of millions of recipients.
SSI is a federal government benefit that provides monthly payments to adults and children with a disability or blindness and to adults aged 65 and older, with nearly 7.4 million people being paid in June 2024.
This November 1 payment is the first that will be issued by the SSA in this month, with subsequent payments for other beneficiaries being made throughout the month. Aside from retirees who have been claiming since before May 1997, older Americans are paid according to their birthday, with those born earlier in a given month paid in the first weeks, and so on.
SSI recipients will be paid twice this month, although the second payment does not amount to an extra portion of benefits. For December, SSI payments will be made on Friday, November 29.
A stock image of a Social Security card with U.S. dollars. Payments are made monthly to all benefit recipients.
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These payments would normally be administered on the first of the corresponding month, but has been changed because December 1 falls on a Sunday, and Social Security payments are not made on weekends or federal holidays.
“We do this to avoid putting you at a financial disadvantage and make sure that you don’t have to wait beyond the first of the month to get your payment,” the Social Security Administration (SSA) explained in a 2022 blog post.
“It does not mean that you are receiving a duplicate payment in the previous month, so you do not need to contact us to report the second payment.”
The SSA recommends waiting three working days before contacting it if your payment hasn’t arrived on its due date.
For 2024, the maximum monthly SSI payment for 2024 is $943 for an individual and $1,415 for a couple. But this is subject to change beginning in December following the SSA’s Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) announcement made earlier in October.
On October 10, the SSA announced an increase of 2.5 percent across all benefits administered by the government agency. “Social Security benefits and SSI payments will increase in 2025, helping tens of millions of people keep up with expenses even as inflation has started to cool,” Martin O’Malley, commissioner of Social Security, said as part of the announcement.
The first adjusted payments will be made in January 2025 for retirement benefits, and December 2024 for SSI recipients.