US Social Security COLA Adjustment Letter

[racyrick]

Has anyone received their SS COLA Adjustment letter with the new payments starting the first of January?

[ubonjoe]

I have not gotten mine.

I am sure it was earlier than Christmas when I received it in the past.

[lopburi3]

OPM just put notice online 23 December for Civil Service type retired.

[GalaxyMan]

Got mine a couple of weeks ago. You can find out what your increase is on the MySSA webpage, https://secure.ssa.gov/mySSA/start

Edited December 25, 2019 by GalaxyMan

[Pib]

The wife and I rec'd our 2020 COLA SSA notices online on 30 Nov 2019.

 

Edited December 25, 2019 by Pib

[gamb00ler]

The COLA is 1.6% for 2020.  Google knew it in October.

[ubonjoe]

13 hours ago, Pib said:

The wife and I rec'd our 2020 COLA SSA notices online on 30 Nov 2019.

 

15 hours ago, GalaxyMan said:

Got mine a couple of weeks ago. You can find out what your increase is on the MySSA webpage, https://secure.ssa.gov/mySSA/start

That is good if you can register for myssa. Been living out of the states for to many years so my US address cannot be verified.

I want the one that comes in the mail that is an obvious original that I can show for my extension of stay next year as proof of the source of my income. Same for the statement for this year that will arrive next month.

[ubonjoe]

4 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

The COLA is 1.6% for 2020.  Google knew it in October.

It was also posted on this forum in October.

 

[Langsuan Man]

I got the good news bad news letter on November 27th

 

My Social Security would go up due to the COLA increase and my 2020, IRMAA*,  for Medicare Part B,  would eat that up and then some 

 

(* income related monthly adjustment amount )

[GalaxyMan]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

 

That is good if you can register for myssa. Been living out of the states for to many years so my US address cannot be verified.

I want the one that comes in the mail that is an obvious original that I can show for my extension of stay next year as proof of the source of my income. Same for the statement for this year that will arrive next month.

Didn't realize that that could be a problem. I've always maintained an address in the States, with friends, for all sorts of reasons; ease of banking, etc. Is that something that you could do?

 

How appropriate that my 1,000th post should be a response to you, Joe. ????

Edited December 26, 2019 by GalaxyMan

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, GalaxyMan said:

Didn't realize that that could be a problem. I've always maintained an address in the States, with friends, for all sorts of reasons; ease of banking, etc. Is that something that you could do?

It is verified through a credit bureau and they have no record of a US address for me.

 

[Pib]

8 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

The COLA is 1.6% for 2020.  Google knew it in October.

Yea, but google did know (and still does not know) how it affected each individual in terms of the exact gross increase, federal tax adjustment, Medicare Part B adjustment, etc., and what the net result would be for each individual.  Some people can still end-up with no net increase if medicare eats the entire increase..or maybe just a dollar or two increase after deductions such as tax and medicare get cranked it.  People want to know the net, end result in their individual cases vs the just that the COLA will be 1.6%.

[GalaxyMan]

45 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It is verified through a credit bureau and they have no record of a US address for me.

Doesn't make much sense that an eligible American citizen can't register, no matter what their address. Just more governmental stupidity. Do you think that this is deliberate discrimination to discourage non-US-based citizens from being able to take advantage of the system and their rights under it?

[Pib]

18 hours ago, Pib said:

The wife and I rec'd our 2020 COLA SSA notices online on 30 Nov 2019.

 

And since the wife and I have our Online SSA accts setup to receive key documentation electronically "and" by snail mail, we both got the SSA COLA increase in our Bangkok residence mailbox today/26 Dec.  No date or postmark anywhere to indicate when they actually got mailed....I just have to assume around 30 Nov/shortly after.. 

 

We primarily still want snail mail also just to confirm SSA correspondence can find our Thailand address and just in case we ever lose access to our online accts.   Now, this year the SSA Wilkes Barre could "not" find our mailbox for the wife's dead or alive form (1st or 2nd mailing) but my dead or alive form arrived no problem in June/1st mailing....and we both have the exact same address on file with SSA.  I figure the wife's dead or alive form simply never got mailed.

 

 

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

And since the wife and I have our Online SSA accts setup to receive key documentation electronically "and" by snail mail, we both got the SSA COLA increase in our Bangkok residence mailbox today/26 Dec. 

Got mine to just little while ago as well.

[racyrick]

7 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

 

That is good if you can register for myssa. Been living out of the states for to many years so my US address cannot be verified.

I want the one that comes in the mail that is an obvious original that I can show for my extension of stay next year as proof of the source of my income. Same for the statement for this year that will arrive next month.

Exactly. I am in the same situation and immigration would only accept this letter as proof of overseas income.

 

I see you just got your COLA letter. You live in Isaan, correct?

 

I live there also but did not get mine yet. Hopefully in the next day or two but with the holidays, not really expecting it.

[racyrick]

22 hours ago, GalaxyMan said:

Got mine a couple of weeks ago. You can find out what your increase is on the MySSA webpage, https://secure.ssa.gov/mySSA/start

What city do you live in?

[GalaxyMan]

14 minutes ago, racyrick said:

What city do you live in?

My US residence is in Florida. I don't live there and haven't been there in years, but it's my 'legal' US residence.

Edited December 26, 2019 by GalaxyMan

[racyrick]

20 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

My US residence is in Florida. I don't live there and haven't been there in years, but it's my 'legal' US residence.

Thanks for your reply. That explains why you got your letter so early.

 

It looks like people here in Thailand are just now starting to get the letter.

[Pib]

11 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

 

That is good if you can register for myssa. Been living out of the states for to many years so my US address cannot be verified.

I want the one that comes in the mail that is an obvious original that I can show for my extension of stay next year as proof of the source of my income. Same for the statement for this year that will arrive next month.

Yeap, can't beat the snail mail version....it's more official looking than the e-correspondence version.  More "official looking" can make a difference in Thai immigration officialdom.

[cmarshall]

23 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

 

That is good if you can register for myssa. Been living out of the states for to many years so my US address cannot be verified.

I want the one that comes in the mail that is an obvious original that I can show for my extension of stay next year as proof of the source of my income. Same for the statement for this year that will arrive next month.

I didn't think that you needed a US address to register at ssa.gov.  The address they have for me now is my Bangkok address, but I registered while I was still in the US.  Have you called Manila about getting a login account?

 

If you can get logged in, you can at any time print out a verification of benefits letter as well as a history of benefits received.  The other reason for getting a login is to prevent anyone from creating a login using your SS# and stealing your benefits.  I have no idea how likely that is, but for many of us our SS benefits are our biggest asset.

[Pib]

You can only get registered if having a U.S.  address to get verified against....the verification is done by bucking it against a credit reporting agency that SSA has a contract with. 

 

Now after you initially get registered you can then update your address to a foreign address.

[FredLee]

Also just received mine today. 

[Pib]

When registering for a SSA Online acct Equifax is used to verify your identity/address/etc.  If the address you enter is not your address according to the Equifax credit reporting company then you can not get registered/create an online SSA acct.   Now, assuming your phone number is also asked for, according to my conversation with a SSA rep several years ago when getting the wife registered the phone number is not verified...it's just info....can even leave it blank during the registration process...or that's the way it was several years ago.  If you don't get registered after three tries you will get locked out and will need to call SSA to get unlocked so you can try again.

 

https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-02777

[1cosmo]

I haven't received the letter yet. I was going to do my retirement extension next week. (combination 50% funds in BKK Bank and 50% from social security). I can show them many years of deposits from social security.

 

If I don't receive the letter, does any one know if I can get my retirement extension without the letter?

[wayned]

1 hour ago, 1cosmo said:

I haven't received the letter yet. I was going to do my retirement extension next week. (combination 50% funds in BKK Bank and 50% from social security). I can show them many years of deposits from social security.

 

If I don't receive the letter, does any one know if I can get my retirement extension without the letter?

Immigration doesn't want to see anything from SSA.  If your are using the combination method you will need a ltetter from the bank showing the balance in the account that you are using for the bank deposit and a copy of your bankbook showing that the amount in the bank has not dropped below the required balance for the last 2 months, first extension, and three months for ongoing extensions.  You will also need a letter from the bank showing the balance in the account that you have your SSA funds deposited in AND a statement from the bank showing at least the required amount has been deposited in your account for the last 12 months.  The statement has to come from the bank, not online, and Bangkok bank requires that you fill out a request for the statement 3-5 days in advance because it has to come from headquarters, the branch cannot do it.  The Branch can generated the balance letters.  The balance letters will cost 100 baht each and the statement 200 baht for a grand total of 400 baht.  At least that's what the IO at Nakhon Sawan requires.

[ubonjoe]

11 hours ago, 1cosmo said:

If I don't receive the letter, does any one know if I can get my retirement extension without the letter?

Not all offices ask for proof of the source of your income. If you are registered for myssa you could probably print out a statement online.

You might even be able to use you cola letter from last year since you will be proving this years income if needed.

[wayned]

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Not all offices ask for proof of the source of your income. If you are registered for myssa you could probably print out a statement online.

You might even be able to use you cola letter from last year since you will be proving this years income if needed.

I didn't think that immigration cared about the source of the income, only that you could show at least 65K a month FFT transfer into your account in Thailand.  I thought that you could be getting the funds as a NYC slum lord as long as the 65k was transferred into you Thai account each month.

 

I tried registering for mySSA but you have to have a US address.

[dave s]

Even worse is that many SSA web pages say "Oh, just sign on to your myssa account" to do some task, and provide no other way to do it. And if you call the SSA help line, no one there can provide an alternative procedure, either.

[ubonjoe]

33 minutes ago, wayned said:

I didn't think that immigration cared about the source of the income, only that you could show at least 65K a month FFT transfer into your account in Thailand.  I thought that you could be getting the funds as a NYC slum lord as long as the 65k was transferred into you Thai account each month.

I tried registering for mySSA but you have to have a US address.

Some offices are wanting proof of the source of the income.

I was asked for it when I did my extension in August. I was prepared for it and had my cola letter and my SSA statement for 2018 plus copies of them and they accepted the copies.

I cannot register for myssa either due not being able to give a address that can be verified.