Tomorrow is the third Wednesday of the month, which means that the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be sending out yet another round of Social Security benefit checks to all beneficiaries with birth dates from the 11th to the 20th of their respective birth month. The unfortunate news for some of these beneficiaries is that they may only see half of their benefit check hit their bank accounts on September 17th. This is because the SSA is actively withholding up to 50% of a beneficiaries benefit if they had been overpaid in the past.
Here is everything you need to know.
Social Security clawbacks in full effect
In March, the Trump Administration announced that it would be reinstating the 100% withholding rate for overpaid benefits. This withholding rate had been in place during the Trump Administration’s first term in office, as well as under the Obama Administration. Under the Biden Administration, the withholding rate for overpaid benefits had been capped at 10% of the benefit so as to prevent the possibility of sending vulnerable retirees into poverty.
The initial 100% withholding rate announcement was met with immediate criticism from advocates and former SSA officials, and as a result, an emergency meeting was held at the SSA in April. Following the emergency meeting, the SSA then announced that the withholding rate would be capped at 50% of the benefit for all Title II holders, and notices were then sent to beneficiaries on April 25th. It is also worth noting that the withholding rate for the Supplemental Security Income benefit is 10%.
Upon receiving a notice of overpayment, the beneficiary then had a 90 day grace period during which they could either appeal the notice, file a waiver stating that repaying the debt would cause severe financial hardship, or negotiate a lower rate of withholding. This 90 day period ended on July 24th and the 50% withholding rate has since been in effect. This means that if a beneficiary did not take action regarding the notice during the 90 days, all of their benefits going forward will be subject to the 50% withholding rate until the debt is cleared.
September benefit
The SSA rolls out its benefit payments on the second, third, and fourth Wednesday of each month. The Wednesday on which a recipient will receive their benefits is determined in relation to their date of birth. As such, the payment schedule for September is structured as follows:
- Second Wednesday, September 10th – recipients with birth dates from the 1st of the month to the 10th
- Third Wednesday, September 17th – recipients with birth dates from the 11th of the month to the 20th
- Fourth Wednesday, September 24th – recipients with birth dates from the 21st of the month to the 31st
The Supplemental Security Income is generally paid on the first of each month, however, this payment can fluctuate sometimes. If the SSI benefit is not sent out on the first of the month, it will most likely be paid to beneficiaries at the end of the previous month. This has been the case for September as well. On the SSA’s official schedule, there is no SSI payment for the entirety of September. This is because there had been two SSI payments in August: one at the beginning of the month to be used for August, and a second SSI payment on August 29th to be used for the month of September.
The SSA does also note the following: “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.”
Listed below are all of the remaining SSI benefit payment dates for the 2025 calendar year:
- August 29th – SSI benefit for September
- October 1st – SSI benefit for October
- October 31st – SSI benefit for November
- December 1st – SSI benefit for December
- December 31st – SSI benefit for January 2026