The Social Security program currently provides around 70 million vulnerable individuals with a stable income, allowing these individuals to rest easy knowing that they will be financially secure from each month to the next. According to estimates from the Social Security Administration (SSA), approximately “21 percent of married couples and 45 percent of single recipients rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income.”
As such, it is quite important for households that are recipients of Social Security benefits to know exactly when they will receive their monthly income from the SSA. For this reason, the agency uploads its official payment schedule for a full year ahead of time and as a result, beneficiaries are able to plan out their monthly budgets with ease.
Likely due to the vast number of beneficiaries that the program has, payments are split across several days throughout the month. In particular, the Social Security benefit payments are rolled out over the course of three Wednesdays during each month. Here is what you need to know about how benefits are paid, as well as the payment dates for the upcoming month of August.
Social Security benefit payments for August
The SSA’s official Schedule of Social Security Benefit Payments features the payment dates for the full calendar year with payment dates for both the regular Social Security benefit, as well as the payment dates for the Supplemental Security Income, or SSI benefits marked on. The regular Social Security benefit payment dates includes both the benefits paid to retirees, as well as the Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI benefits, whilst the Supplemental Security Income benefits are paid to those with little to no other resources.
The regular Social Security, as well as the SSDI payments are made on Wednesdays throughout the month in relation to the date of birth of the recipient, whilst SSI benefit payments are generally made on the first of every month but this does fluctuate by a few days if the first of the month falls on a weekend or holiday. For the current month of July, all payments should have already reached the bank accounts of beneficiaries as the last payment for this month was scheduled for July 23rd.
As noted above, the date on which a recipient receives their monthly benefit is determined in relation to their date of birth, As such, benefit payments for August will roll out as follows:
- Second Wednesday, August 13th – recipients with birth dates from the 1st of the month to the 10th
- Third Wednesday, August 20th – recipients with birth dates from the 11th of the month to the 20th
- Fourth Wednesday, August 27th – recipients with birth dates from the 21st of the month to the 31st
The SSA does, however, stipulate that “if you received Social Security before May 1997 or if receiving both Social Security & SSI, Social Security is paid on the 3rd and SSI on the 1st.”
Other changes to take note of
Some beneficiaries may notice half of their benefit is missing starting in August as the SSA has officially begun withholding 50% of the benefit for those who were found to have been overpaid in the past. Notices informing beneficiaries that they have an overpayment balance were sent out on April 25th, and following this, the recipient will have 90 days to file a waiver of repayment or negotiate a lower rate of withholding. July 24th marks the end of this 90 day grace period and going forward from this date, benefits will be subject to the 50% withholding rate until the overpayment balance is cleared.
An executive order from the office of the president has also stipulated that the use of paper checks will be phased out from all federal transaction as of September 30th, 2025. This means that Social Security recipients who receive paper checks will need to switch to electronic payment methods before October in order to prevent any delays or issues with their benefit payments. The order does state that exceptions will be made in cases where an electronic payment is not feasible.