SOCIAL SECURITY
What it means for your benefits
Photo: Coolcaesar / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
THE NEWS
On Oct. 20, 2026 the Social Security Administration said it had corrected records for nearly 15% of all active Social Security numbers.
17 MILLION
17 million records belonged to people with no recorded date of death. The SSA says it has now added them.
Photo: Harris & Ewing / Public domain
25 MILLION
About 25 million records got citizenship information from the DHS SAVE system. Another 8.5 million with wrong status are still being reviewed.
WHAT IT DID NOT SAY
The SSA named no arrests, indictments or prosecutions, and did not say how many fixes were routine missing data.
THE CRITICS
A former SSA employee told Congress staff were pressured to add death dates to living people. Sens. Warren and Blumenthal wrote to the commissioner.
YOUR CHECK
The SSA has not said benefits for living people change. The 3.6% COLA in January is the bigger change to your check.
Photo: N Giovannucci / CC BY-SA 4.0
CHECK YOUR RECORD
Review your name, date of birth, earnings history and payment history. Call 1-800-772-1213 if anything is wrong.
LISTED AS DEAD?
Bring a passport or driver license, ask for a written correction, and tell your bank right away.
SCAM ALERT
No one from Social Security will ask you to "verify" your number by text or demand gift cards. Report it at oig.ssa.gov.
FULL GUIDE
The numbers, the criticism, and a step-by-step check of your own record.
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