Seniors who are 62 years old or older may soon get a payment worth $1,848 in just 5 days. This money will be essential to make ends meet in a month when Christmas expenses will drain American’s savings.
As a matter of fact, it will be the Social Security Administration the one in charge of sending out this payment. Of course, to receive it you must have filed for retirement benefits in advance.
Then, if you started collecting Social Security before May 1997, this payment will not be yours. Those who did not receive Social Security before that date may still have a chance to cash up to $4,555 if they meet the birthdate requirement.
REQUIREMENT TO GET A PAYMENT OF $1,848 ON DECEMBER 20
If you did not qualify for the payment on December 1, you must check your birthday is from the 11th to the 20th. Retirees whose birthday is after the 10th but before the 21st will get a new check worth $1,848 on average.
Thus, the next Social Security payment will be on December 20, but it will not be the last one. December 27 will be the last pay date. It will be for those retirees whose birthday is from the 21st to the 31st.
Obviously, as it is also a retirement payment, the maximum amount and the average amount is the same. For example, if you qualify for the largest check you can get up to $4,555 if you filed at 70 in 2023.
Those who reach their Full Retirement Age in 2023 can get up to $3,627. At 62, the largest amount you can receive is $2,572. However, these large checks are only for high earners who got the taxable maximum for 35 years.
WILL THE DECEMBER 20 AND 27 PAYMENTS INCLUDE THE NEW COLA BOOST?
The Social Security Administration will not give the COLA increase in December if you get retirement benefits. This is because the new COLA starts on December 29.
Actually, it should start on New Year, but it is a holiday. Therefore, the Administration has decided to send that payment three days in advance. By doing so, more than 5 million Americans can get their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) check before the usual due date.
For your information, your payment in January will be 3.2% bigger than in December. So, if you get $1,848 (an average check in 2023), your payment will be about 1907 in 2024.
This means seniors may get about 59 dollars extra per month on average. SSI recipients can get up to $29 dollars more on December 29, so it will not be such a nice increase.