As per a new policy from the Social Security Administration (SSA), 2 million additional beneficiaries will now have to make an in-person visit to their nearest Social Security office each year to make changes to their direct deposit information, according to agency estimates. The issue with this arises from the fact that close to one-fourth of seniors live over an hour away from their local Social Security field office, according to a recent analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Additionally, for around half of the seniors, it will take a 33 minute drive — barring no traffic — to get to their nearest field office.
What is causing the uptick in visits to Social Security offices?
According to the agency, the new process of updating direct deposit information has been put into effect with aim of curbing fraud. A SSA official said via email that, “since 2023, the agency has experienced a marked increase in allegations of direct deposit fraud,” according to CNBC.
In pursuit of fraud prevention, the SSA implemented enhanced fraud protection for changes to direct deposit information. Subsequently, over 20,000 Social Security numbers were flagged from March 29 and April 26 after telephone direct deposit requests failed the security measures in place. According to the SSA official, “of the direct deposit transactions flagged, 61% to 72% of individuals never resubmitted their requests, a strong indicator that many of those attempts may not have been legitimate.”
Approximately $19.9 million in losses were avoided thanks to these enhanced safety measures according to agency estimates. Advocates, on the other hand, feel that given the scale of the fraud, these changes are an overreaction.
“We have listened to our customers, Congress, advocates, and others, and we are updating our policy to provide better customer service to the country’s most vulnerable populations,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security in a March press release. “In addition to extending the policy’s effective date by two weeks to ensure our employees have the training they need to help customers, Medicare, Disability, and SSI applications will be exempt from in-person identity proofing because multiple opportunities exist during the decision process to verify a person’s identity.”
Beginning on April 28, before calling the agency’s 800 number, if a beneficiary wishes to change their direct deposit information, they will need to log into their my Social Security account and retrieve a one-time code.
Increased drive time for seniors
For those who are unable to use the online verification system via their my Social Security account, an in-person visit to a field office will be required in order to verify their identity and whilst the agency does accept walk-ins, making an appointment is encouraged. As a result of this change, a substantial number of seniors or disabled individuals will now have to pay their nearest field office a visit since they may not have access to the internet or know how to navigate the online resource.
CBPP research has determined that, “about 6 million seniors don’t drive, while almost 8 million older Americans have a medical condition or disability that makes it difficult for them to travel.”
This in-person visit requirement could prove to be an additional hurdle to beneficiaries who live a distance away from their nearest field office. When traveling to their nearest office, over 25% of seniors spanning 31 states will be saddled with travel times exceeding an hour. For instance, in Arkansas, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming, which are less populated states, over 40% of seniors would have to travel for over an hour to get to the nearest field office.
It should also be noted that these travel time estimates do not take into account “the time spent getting an appointment to visit a Social Security office and the time spent waiting for the appointment,” according to Devin O’Connor, senior fellow at the CBPP.