Huge delays in Social Security processing new retirement applications, does anyone know why

My husband applied for SS retirement benefits in October 2024, and his application is being processed by the Jamaica, NY office.  He was 66 and 8 mos. as of January 30, 2025.  As of today his application is still stuck on part 2 of 3.  Getting a bit nervous.  Nothing unusual in his employment history, so that shouldn't be causing a delay.  And heaven forbid you could actually call someone at the Jamaica, NY office and get an answer other than "it's being processed."  Anyone else encountering a 4 month delay with an application being processed by the Jamaica, NY office?

For what it's worth....

https://www.ssa.gov/ssa-performance/processing-time-benefits

same here with me.  I just turned 70 February 16.  Fortunately I am still working and October 24th I put my application for retirement benefits online.  I did it online.  Somewhere around December I started checking and it said it was in Step 2 of 3 in the Jamaica NY office.  Now February 28th, 127 days later and the last time I was able to log in it was still in the same spot.  Now for the last 2 days every time I try to log in it says I can't at this time, so I don't know what it says.

I feel for you and hope they get you processed soon as I understand that you are not working and after 47 years of paying in, now need that to survive.

Same here, in Seattle WA. My husband and I both put in our applications for retirement benefits to start in February 2025. We hav been stuck in the dreaded “step 2 of 3” stage for nearly three months now, no change, I login and check every day and nothing changes. I just tried calling to check on it and see if I need to supply any more data, called the generic 800 number, and was on hold with a very pleasant BOT who kept repeating “your call is important to us”, for 6 hours, when I finally gave up and hung up the call.

So glad it isn't just me 🙂  I applied December 13 so next week will be 90 days.  Someone from some Social Security office called my cell about 3 weeks ago but didn't leave a message and unfortunately I was away from my phone.  I tried to find out who called, but the main SSA number couldn't/wouldn't help - just said "oh, if it was important I'm sure they'll call back".  LOL - my "step 2" reviewer in Federal Way Washington was probably one of the 7,000 fired.  

I noticed that a lot of the news sites are basically copying and pasting the same articles over and over with the current date rather than the original date of the article in regards to issues at the SSA. This doesn't seem to have a purpose other than to cause panic with recycled articles, which is understandable for people who have been waiting 5 months. My status remains pending just under 4 months in, one week past my 62nd birthday. I do not expect a payment until April 9th and hopefully a letter beforehand. I don't plan on calling SSA until later in April, and am fortunately solvent through the summer. But it is frustrating to not get answers and have to budget necessities to hold out for a conclusive resolution. That, along with possible inflation due to Tarif's, does cause concern.

If you have grocery stores with great specials or discount food establishments (as I do), stock up! I'm hoping not to have to resort to applying for SNAP, but will if I have to. Fortunately there are lots of resources for seniors, and many of them are state controlled rather than federal. I just wanted to provide a bit of hope for others in the waiting stage, and look forward to reading about positive resolutions with notifications of approval and consistent payments going through. 

Because of the changes caused by the passage of the recent Fair Social Security Act (passed end of 2024) there are many new eligible applicants. Plus the SS admin is having to go back and amend current recipients whose benefits were increased due to the acts passage. This includes figuring increases retroactive to 1/1/20024.  Many of these adjustment are for the millions of teachers, firefighters,  police officers and spouses ineligible for retirement benefits due to past provisions in the laws prohibiting or lowering benefits a person from receiving both a local government pension and SS retirement benefits. 

Wife went from applying to receive her first payment in 23 days. Try going through your local SS office and do a phone application. 

I called in January, got appointment in February, so now I’m told approval will be several months and I have no income

When applying on the SSA website there is a small disclaimer as follows. "After you apply, you can expect a letter letting you know if your benefits are approved or if we need more information. If you apply early -- say two to four months before your chosen start month -- you should expect the letter towards the end of your chosen start month. Otherwise, you'll typically get it within 30 days of applying."

I haven't seen this information elsewhere. I was very annoyed myself when I applied for SS a few years ago and it "took forever". In my case, it seemed that the disclaimer above was not shown once the application was submitted (if I had even seen it in the first place). If I was presented with that disclaimer each time I checked my application's status I would have had better understanding of the process and I wouldn't have been so worried or annoyed. Now that we are planning for my wife's application I have seen this disclaimer and understood the process better.

The disclaimer explains a lot. If the application is submitted "early" (as per SSA, 2 to 4 months before your planned start) you are not gonna hear from them until near the end of your chosen start month. By definition, this means that an early applicant will be waiting for up to 4 months. This is regardless of that little blurb they show on My Social Security how your application is in progress and it seems like it's hung up forever.

Per the SSA (https://www.ssa.gov/ssa-performance/processing-time-benefits) about 85% of all old age applications are processed on-time. A pretty good record in my view. I suppose that, by definition, that includes those applications that were submitted early and did not get approved until up to 4 months later. Again, this seems reasonable because they tell us (see above) what they're going to do. 

I suspect that most people who wonder about their application are probably on the standard timeline and just need to be patient, waiting for that target date.