RM 01305.022 Handling Inquiries About Nonreceipt of Automatic Social Security Statement

A. Policy

We use eligible SSN Holders' months of birth to determine when we will send them their Statements. They are selected about three months before their month of birth. To give us relatively even distribution of the mailings within that month, we select a random sample of individuals each week using specified digits within the SSN. We don't select them in chronological order by day of birth. Statements are printed and mailed at a rate of about 500,000 each workday. Because of the processing time involved and the subsequent mail time, people selected late in the month may not receive their Statements until the following month.

Most recipients will get their Statements two to three months before their birth month, but some Statements may be delayed because OCO processing is required to correct the records before production. And, of course, individuals excluded from the mailings (see RM 01305.001C.2.) and those for whom we can't obtain an address won't receive Statements.

B. Procedure

If an SSN holder reports that he or she didn't receive an automatic Statement and none of the exclusions in RM 01305.001C.2. apply, the FO or TSC should query the Statement History File (see RM 01301.025) for status. If the History File query response shows:

1. No Record Of Statement And It Is Still At Least Two Months Before The SSN Holder's Month Of Birth

Explain that the Statement may still be in process and ask the individual to wait until one month before the birth month before contacting us again. If the inquirer does not wish to wait, give him or her a SSA-7004-SM-OP2 (business reply version) to complete and return or suggest using the Internet SSA-7004 to transmit the request online.

2. No Record And It Is One Month Or Less Before The Month Of Birth

Assume that no Statement was produced because of an exclusion or processing exception. Send the inquirer a SSA-7004-SM-OP2 (business reply version) to complete and return or suggest using the Internet SSA-7004 to transmit the request online.

3. A Statement Was Issued And Should Have Been Received

Send the inquirer a SSA-7004-SM-OP2 (business reply version) to complete and return or suggest using Internet SSA-7004 to transmit the request online.

4. An Action Is Being Processed In OCO

If the action has been in OCO for:

a. 30 Days or Less

Advise the requester that the Statement will be issued as soon as the corrective action is completed.

b. More Than 30 Days

Send a Modernized Development Worksheet (MDW) to OCO asking them to notify the requester of the status of that action. (See MSOM MDW 001.001 -1 for instructions on using the MDW.

5. The Statement History Query Response (PBHS) Indicates A Processing Limitation That Prevented Issuance of A Statement

In the automatic mailings process, when the Statement Processing system encounters certain conditions on the MBR/MEF/Numident, (no earnings; death indicator; pending claim; or an MCS proc lim has been encountered) the record is dropped from processing and no Statement is produced. (Note: In the ON-request process these conditions would have resulted in the requester receiving an SSA-7014 notice. (See RM 01301.040 for information on SSA-7014 notice. Explain to the inquirer why we couldn't issue a Statement. Where appropriate, follow the instructions in RM 01301.042 — RM 01301.046 for the type of corrective action necessary to enable us to produce future Statements. After correcting the record, if the inquirer wants an immediate Statement, send him or her an SSA-7004-SM-OP2 (business reply version) to complete and return or suggest using the Internet SSA-7004 to transmit the request online. (NOTE: It is important to note that the condition on the record must be corrected before the requester is told to submit an SSA-7004. If the correction is not made, the requester will receive an SSA-7014 instead of the requested Statement. This would not be viewed as good public service.

To Link to this section - Use this URL:
http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0101305022

RM 01305.022 - Handling Inquiries About Nonreceipt of Automatic <Italic>Social</Italic> <Italic>Security Statement</Italic> - 07/25/2002
Batch run: 03/29/2017
Rev:07/25/2002

Program Operations Manual System (POMS)