New Social Security rules announced: You may be required to visit office in person
FILE - Two people enter a Social Security Administration office in suburban Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by: Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - New rules are coming to the Social Security Administration aimed at limiting fraudulent claims, which will require millions of recipients to visit local agency offices in person rather than over the phone.
The agency on Tuesday announced the new requirements, describing them as "stronger identity verification procedures" to further safeguard records and benefits against fraud.
Here’s what recipients and applicants should know:
New Social Security rules to require in-person office visits
What we know:
People will no longer be able to verify their identity with the SSA over the phone. And those who cannot properly verify their identity through the agency's "my Social Security" online service will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, the agency said.
Timeline:
These new SSA requirements will take effect on March 31, 2025.
Who this applies to:
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Dig deeper:
The new changes come as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.
In addition to the identity verification change, the agency announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients’ direct deposit change requests – both in person and online – to one business day. Previously, online direct deposit changes were held for 30 days.
Earlier this month, the agency said it would also change how it will recoup overpayments – returning to a previous policy under the Obama administration that withheld 100% of people’s benefits if they were accidentally overpaid. In 2024, under the Biden administration, Social Security announced it was decreasing the default overpayment withholding rate to just 10% from 100%, to help reduce financial hardship on people with overpayments.
Social security benefits to rise 2.5% in 2025
Social Security recipients will receive a 2.5% increase in their monthly checks in 2025. Analysts had predicted a 2.5% bump for 2025, which is smaller than increases in the previous two years and reflects moderating inflation. Recipients received a 3.2% increase in their benefits in 2024, after a historically large 8.7% benefit increase in 2023, brought on by record 40-year-high inflation.
By the numbers:
More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.
What they're saying:
"The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud," Leland Dudek, the agency’s acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters. "Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service."
He said a problem with eliminating fraudulent claims is that "the information that we use through knowledge-based authentication is already in the public domain."
"This is a common sense measure," Dudek added.
The other side:
Many Americans have been concerned that SSA office closures and massive layoffs of federal workers — part of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to shrink the size of the federal government — will make getting benefits even more difficult.
Specific to the new requirements, retiree advocates warned that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.
Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that "by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system."
DOGE cuts on Social Security Administration
The backstory:
The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. However, Dudek downplayed the impact of its offices shuttering, saying many were small remote hearing sites that served few members of the public.
Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, and called it a "Ponzi scheme," suggesting the program will be a primary target in his goal to cut government spending.
Meanwhile, a group of labor unions last week sued and asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.
The Source: This story was written using information published in a press release by the Social Security Administration on March 18, 2025, as well as Associated Press reporting on a call held with reporters. It was reported from Cincinnati, and the AP contributed.