Now that the 24th of September has passed, all Social Security payments for this month should have already reached the bank accounts of beneficiaries, and the Social Security Administration (SSA) will likely be preparing for the roll out of October’s benefit payments. The agency pays out two kinds of benefits to qualifying beneficiaries each month: the regular Social Security benefit, and the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefit.
A payment schedule for the full calendar year can be found on the agency’s website, and on it is marked the payment dates for both types of benefits. There are currently more than 70 million beneficiaries in the program, many of whom rely primarily on their monthly benefit income to get by. As such, it can be quite helpful to have complete transparency regarding the dates on which you will receive your benefit check each month.
As per the official schedule, some beneficiaries will be seeing up to three checks hits their bank accounts in October due to a small quirk. Here is what you need to know.
Extra payment in October?
The Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefit, is typically scheduled for the first of each month. The SSA, however, will often send out the checks for this benefits several days early, resulting in two SSI payments over the course of one month. This is not an error, nor is it a bonus benefit check. Even when some months have two SSI payments, all calendar months will still be accounted for.
The reason behind these early payments is simple, and is almost always due to the first of the month falling on a weekend or holiday. This will be case with the October SSI payments as well. Recipients will receive their October SSI on October 1st, then at the end of the month on October 31st, a second SSI check will hit their bank accounts. This October 31st payment is the SSI for November, and as such, there will be no SSI payment for the entirety of November.
“When the first day of the month falls on the weekend or a federal holiday, you receive your SSI payment on the last business day before the first day of the month. That means you may get two SSI payments in the same month,” the SSA explained in a blog post. “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. 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.”
Parallel to this, the regular Social Security benefit, which is paid to retirees, disabled individuals, or survivors, is rolled out on the second, third, or fourth Wednesday of each month. The specific Wednesday on which any beneficiary will receive their monthly benefit is determined in relation to their date of birth. The payment schedule is structured as follows:
- Second Wednesday – recipients with birth dates from the 1st to the 10th of their respective birth month
- Third Wednesday – recipients with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month
- Fourth Wednesday – recipients with birth dates from the 21st to the 31st of their respective birth month
Some beneficiaries may even qualify to receive both types of benefits, which means three checks will be hitting their accounts next month.
2026 COLA announcement
Each year, benefit amounts are adjusted to account for year over year inflation. This is known as the Cost of Living Adjustment, or COLA. Along with multiple benefit checks, the SSA will also officially announce the 2026 COLA in October on the 15th. In 2025, the COLA came in at 2.5%, however, experts have projected a marginally higher COLA for 2026.