Every month, thousands of households in the United States receive Social Security retirement benefits; however, it is possible that we will stop receiving our retirement checks. While it is true that once we begin collecting Social Security checks, we usually continue to do so without issue, we do occasionally encounter setbacks.
If we take certain actions, we may be unable to collect our retirement benefits. This would imply that we would not receive our monthly Social Security income, leaving us in a somewhat uncomfortable financial situation. However, even if we lost the check, we could still recover it.
It all depends on your personal situation, but understanding the main reasons why the Social Security Administration stops sending retirement checks helps you stay organized and avoid a variety of negative situations. We should be able to avoid problems if we pay attention to all of the factors to consider.
Reasons why we may lose our Social Security benefits
There are seven major reasons why the Social Security Administration may stop sending retirement payments. In this case, we’re discussing age retirement payments, but some of these points may also apply to disability checks.
Thus, the reasons why we could lose the check are:
- Excess Earned Income: If you work before reaching Full Retirement Age and exceed the allowable earnings limit, the SSA may reduce or suspend your check.
- Failure to file a proper tax return: If you have additional earnings and do not report them correctly, Social Security may suspend your benefit until you regularize the situation.
- Residency outside the United States: If you live in countries where the SSA doesn’t send payments (such as North Korea or Cuba), they can withhold your check. You could also lose your benefit if you spend too much time out of the country without meeting the requirements.
- Criminal convictions or incarceration: If you are convicted and spend more than 30 days in prison, the SSA suspends your payments until you get out.
- Fraud or false information: If you provided incorrect or misleading information when you applied for your benefit, the SSA may revoke your payment and demand your money back.
- Failure to respond to SSA: If SSA requests information to verify your eligibility and you do not respond, your check may be temporarily stopped.
- Death of the beneficiary: Payments stop immediately upon death, and any improper collections must be refunded.
However, it is possible to recover lost payments, depending on the situation of the US citizen at the time the check is requested for reinstatement.
