Starting this Wednesday, January 12, millions of beneficiaries of Social Security programs will begin to receive a larger social security check or increase of 5.9% for Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). The Social Security Administration (SSA) will begin distributing payments with the increase this week for at least 64 million retirees. The SSA uses the date of birth of the people to organize the delivery schedule and is processed on Wednesday of each week from the second.
Under this scheme, the first to receive the money are supposed to be the recipients that meet the criteria between the 1st and the 10th of the month, so the first round should be on its way tomorrow, Wednesday.
For those who meet the criteria between the 11th and the 20th of the month, the check will be paid from the third Wednesday in January, that is, the 19th.Finally, for people with a birthday between 21 through 31, Social Security will process the payment on the fourth Wednesday of each month. In the case of January, it will be the 26th. The cycle will repeat itself every month.
In December, the agency began delivering payments to some 8 million recipients of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, but most shipments of the check with the increase will be made starting this month .
“The 5.9 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security recipients in January 2022. Increasing payments to approximately 8 million People receiving SSI will begin on December 30, 2021. (Explanatory note: some people receive both Social Security and SSI benefits),” the office said in a statement on its website.
By this date, the creditors of these payments should have received notification by mail from Social Security. If you have not received a letter with details about the payment, you can access the information by opening an account on the my Social Security portal.
“Notice of the new benefit amount is usually mailed to Social Security and SSI recipients in early December. Most people who receive Social Security payments will be able to view their COLA notice online in their personal my Social Security account. People can create or access their my Social Security account online at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount (only available in English),” the agency said.
The annual increase in Social Security funds is based on the Consumer Price Index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor. It is a measure that seeks to help recipients to cope with inflation .
“The purpose of the COLA is to ensure that it does not reduce the purchasing power of Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits due to inflation. The COLA is based on the increase in the percentage of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Salaried Workers and Administrative Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of last year that a COLA was determined until the third quarter of the current year. If there is no increase, there cannot be a COLA ”, explained the entity.
This year, the average additional payment to a beneficiary was estimated at $92 per month for a total payment of approximately $1,657.