Getting an ssa.gov account

I have failed at the first hurdle trying to get a log in to get a ssi pension forecast, as I have no US postal address and it didn't like my phone number either. How do I manage to do this?

That has been problematic for people in the past.  You could get a US phone number (something like Callcentric.com or another similar provider) and get a street-address mail forwarding service. But I do believe the government knows that the mail forwarders are not residential addresses (the Post Office certainly does), and so I'm not sure if it would be acceptable to SSA.

No friends or family back in the States that would allow you to use their home address for this purpose?

That has been problematic for people in the past.  You could get a US phone number (something like Callcentric.com or another similar provider) and get a street-address mail forwarding service. But I do believe the government knows that the mail forwarders are not residential addresses (the Post Office certainly does), and so I'm not sure if it would be acceptable to SSA.

No friends or family back in the States that would allow you to use their home address for this purpose?

Well, I don't live there. I'll want my SS sent to a UK account and my address is in the UK. I've done absolutely everything by the book so far over the last 22 years since I moved over here. I'm not even a US citizen anymore.  I will see what I can find out.

Well, I don't live there. I'll want my SS sent to a UK account and my address is in the UK. I've done absolutely everything by the book so far over the last 22 years since I moved over here. I'm not even a US citizen anymore.  I will see what I can find out.

That should be no problem and you would file through the Federal Benefits Unit in the US Embassy in London. We already had SS online accounts when we moved over so I don’t know the process applying from the UK. However, I didn’t have an IRS account when we moved back but I did manage to create one which uses id.me as the verification method. I see that when I log onto my SS account that id.me is a log in option so surely one can create a SS account without a US address or phone number.

To get an up to date estimate I might start by sending my details to the FBU. I’ll be doing this later this year when applying for my own SS. (My wife did this a couple of years ago).

https://uk.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/federal-benefits/

Well, I don't live there. I'll want my SS sent to a UK account and my address is in the UK. I've done absolutely everything by the book so far over the last 22 years since I moved over here. I'm not even a US citizen anymore.  I will see what I can find out.

Yes, you can have your SS sent to the UK. Your original issue was getting a SSA online account setup. In the past, you had to have a US address to get an online account set up.

Hopefully, as Durhamlad has experienced, you could go through ID.me now and perhaps get one set up.  If you insist on having an online account, that is. Otherwise, as he suggests, you would go through the FBU to get your benefits started.  They will send them wherever you want them sent (with some exceptions). 

Good luck.

Yes, you can have your SS sent to the UK. Your original issue was getting a SSA online account setup. In the past, you had to have a US address to get an online account set up.

Hopefully, as Durhamlad has experienced, you could go through ID.me now and perhaps get one set up.  If you insist on having an online account, that is. Otherwise, as he suggests, you would go through the FBU to get your benefits started.  They will send them wherever you want them sent (with some exceptions). 

Good luck.

Just to confirm what Nan says, my wife’s SS goes to our UK bank account like clockwork every month.

It does help to have an online account to at least get up to date information on your payments (you can also access other information such as your payments history).

FBU no longer answers the phone (honestly, I have called them well over 100 times this year and keep getting the recording). This leaves you sending a secure message and waiting a couple of weeks to get a reply - and even then, they sometimes clearly didn't read your question carefully and answer a question that you didn't ask.

Particularly if you are potentially affected by WEP, I'd say an online account is crucial. It was only by looking at my online account that I was able to track the situation when they fully WEP'ed me a year before WEP should even have applied (a year before my state pension age).

I don't live in the US and don't have a US address, but unfortunately I can't recall how that affected me getting an SSA online account.

The following sites show how to set up id.me and create a SS account.

https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/202673924-Creating-your-ID-me-account


Then you “should” be able to do the following

To access the SSA:

Go to the Social Security login page.
Select Sign In with ID.me, then sign in with your ID.me account and complete multi-factor authentication (MFA).
If required, follow the prompts to provide any additional information.

Here's one more, for luck.

https://www.ssa.gov/foreign/

Also, just so it's not a jolt when you finally get your deposits, mine came through the Bank of Ireland (I believe) to my Royal Bank of Scotland account. They came like clockwork and had a very good exchange rate applied.


Online Services

Until now, you needed a U.S. mailing address to access Social Security's my Social Security account and use our online services. Now, many people without a U.S. mailing address can create a personal  my Social Security account and use the online services with an ID.me credential. If you don't already have an ID.me credential.

    Go to  www.ssa.gov/myaccount.

    On the my Social Security page, select the "Create an Account" button and then select "Sign in with ID.me."

    Select the 'Create an ID.me account" link and follow the instructions.

    On ID.me's "Verify Your Identity" screen, select the "I don't live in the United States" link at the bottom of the page and follow the instructions to complete the registration- process.

    Once you create your credential, you will be returned to the my Social Security webpage for the next steps.

If you already have an ID.me credential, select "Sign In" from the my Social Security page and then sign in to ID.me. You will be redetected to your my Social Security  account.

While I have had an id.me account for a couple of years I decided that my wife should have one as well so this afternoon I helped her set one up.  It was a bit tricky to navigate to the section for overseas customers who don't have things like a US mobile phone or US drivers licence etc, but we got there.  We had to upload copies of our local utility bill showing her name with our UK address on it, a copy of her SS card, and a copy of the first page of her US passport. The id.me app was downloaded to her phone from the UK Apple Store which was a pleasant surprise.

When I went through this it was a 6 hour wait for a person to do a video call where he/she asks some identifying questions then asks for the passport and SS card to be held up to the camera so they can be viewed close up. For my wife today the wait was only 30 minutes.

While I have had an id.me account for a couple of years I decided that my wife should have one as well so this afternoon I helped her set one up.  It was a bit tricky to navigate to the section for overseas customers who don't have things like a US mobile phone or US drivers licence etc, but we got there.  We had to upload copies of our local utility bill showing her name with our UK address on it, a copy of her SS card, and a copy of the first page of her US passport. The id.me app was downloaded to her phone from the UK Apple Store which was a pleasant surprise.

When I went through this it was a 6 hour wait for a person to do a video call where he/she asks some identifying questions then asks for the passport and SS card to be held up to the camera so they can be viewed close up. For my wife today the wait was only 30 minutes.

Glad to hear that setting up an id.me account for your wife was relatively smooth! Yeah, navigating the process can be a bit tricky, especially for overseas customers. But it's great that you were able to get through it and upload the necessary documents. And wow, a 30-minute wait is much better than 6 hours! Did the video call process go smoothly as well? Was the representative helpful and efficient?

Glad to hear that setting up an id.me account for your wife was relatively smooth! Yeah, navigating the process can be a bit tricky, especially for overseas customers. But it's great that you were able to get through it and upload the necessary documents. And wow, a 30-minute wait is much better than 6 hours! Did the video call process go smoothly as well? Was the representative helpful and efficient?

The video call went extremely smoothly, as soon as it ended we logged onto her SS account using the new id.me method.

Following durhamlad's helpful instructions I was just able to create SSA account using ID.me and my UK phone number and address. I got a video call in 5 min, the whole thing took 30min start to finish. Very efficient. Thank you durhamlad.

Question (may be a new thread?) -
I (UKC) have only 6 quarters but my wife (USC) is already drawing $911 a month. I should get half her amount at age 67.
Do I get his even though we are both living in the UK?

Following durhamlad's helpful instructions I was just able to create SSA account using ID.me and my UK phone number and address. I got a video call in 5 min, the whole thing took 30min start to finish. Very efficient. Thank you durhamlad.

Question (may be a new thread?) -
I (UKC) have only 6 quarters but my wife (USC) is already drawing $911 a month. I should get half her amount at age 67.
Do I get his even though we are both living in the UK?

Congratulations on getting your account established, and for posting about it here. Very helpful to other readers of the site.

I think a new thread on spousal, and survivor benefits, is a good idea.  I think the answer to your question is that it doesn't matter that you are both living in the UK, the spousal benefits should be the same.

I started a new thread here and asked a couple of questions myself.
https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=101372.new#new

(This was the closest thread to my question, and I think is relevant to anyone getting, or accessing an SSA account).

A while back, I was forced to change my login to login.gov (for some reason I can't remember, I was unable to use id.me). As part of setting up login.gov, I was provided with a set of 10 single-use codes to use as part of the two-step login.gov process.

I am now down to my last single-use code, and can't figure out how I would obtain another set of 10. I don't want to "waste" the last one, in case I need it to access my SSA account to request another set (in which case, I could end up in a Catch-22 situation if I have no more single-use codes left).

Does anyone know whether this is "automatic"? Will ssa.gov recognise that I have used up my 10 single-use codes and send me a set of replacements? I've serached online, and also looked at the original email transferring me to login.gov, and can find no clues.