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Using Claimyr will:
- Connect you to a human agent at the SSA
- Skip the long phone menu
- Call the correct department
- Redial until on hold
- Forward a call to your phone with reduced hold time
- Give you free callbacks if the SSA drops your call
If I could give 10 stars I would
If I could give 10 stars I would If I could give 10 stars I would Such an amazing service so needed during the times when EDD almost never picks up Claimyr gets me on the phone with EDD every time without fail faster. A much needed service without Claimyr I would have never received the payment I needed to support me during my postpartum recovery. Thank you so much Claimyr!
Really made a difference
Really made a difference, save me time and energy from going to a local office for making the call.
Worth not wasting your time calling for hours.
Was a bit nervous or untrusting at first, but my calls went thru. First time the wait was a bit long but their customer chat line on their page was helpful and put me at ease that I would receive my call. Today my call dropped because of EDD and Claimyr heard my concern on the same chat and another call was made within the hour.
An incredibly helpful service
An incredibly helpful service! Got me connected to a CA EDD agent without major hassle (outside of EDD's agents dropping calls – which Claimyr has free protection for). If you need to file a new claim and can't do it online, pay the $ to Claimyr to get the process started. Absolutely worth it!
Consistent,frustration free, quality Service.
Used this service a couple times now. Before I'd call 200 times in less than a weak frustrated as can be. But using claimyr with a couple hours of waiting i was on the line with an representative or on hold. Dropped a couple times but each reconnected not long after and was mission accomplished, thanks to Claimyr.
IT WORKS!! Not a scam!
I tried for weeks to get thru to EDD PFL program with no luck. I gave this a try thinking it may be a scam. OMG! It worked and They got thru within an hour and my claim is going to finally get paid!! I upgraded to the $60 call. Best $60 spent!
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I think it depends on your local office tbh. Some are better than others. I've had to deal with SSA for my dad's benefits and everything was a mess. But then when I applied for my own retirement benefits it was super smooth. One thing no one's mentioned yet - if you can't find the originals but have copies, sometimes they'll accept those if they can verify the information in their system. Worth asking about!
Update: I finally got through to someone at SSA using that Claimyr service someone recommended. The agent checked my record and said they can see my husband's death is recorded in their system, but they'll still need me to bring the original marriage certificate to verify our relationship. At least I only need to track down one document instead of all of them! Thanks everyone for your help and advice.
That's great news! Glad you were able to get a clear answer. Just remember to bring your own identification as well (driver's license, etc.) when you go to your appointment. And make sure to arrive early - some offices are still understaffed and lines can be long.
glad it worked out! good luck with everything
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Regarding your question about working while receiving benefits: If you're earning significantly more than the earnings limit ($22,560 in 2025), you might want to consider waiting. However, there's something important to understand about the earnings test. Any benefits withheld because of your earnings aren't truly "lost" - when you reach FRA, SSA will recalculate your benefit amount to credit you for the months when benefits were withheld. To make the best decision, you should calculate: 1. How much your survivor benefit would be at 60 (SSA can tell you this) 2. How much would be withheld based on your expected earnings 3. How much your own retirement benefit will be at FRA Sometimes it still makes financial sense to claim early even with the earnings test, especially since your own benefit continues to grow separately.
I had no idea they would recalculate at FRA for the withheld benefits! That changes things. I need to make an appointment with SSA to get the exact benefit amounts so I can do the math. Thank you for this detailed explanation!
I'm in a similar boat but I'm already 63. My ex died and I was going to claim his benefits but the SS office said mine would be higher soon anyway so it wasn't worth the hassle for me. Every situation is different tho!
This is why it's so important to get the actual numbers! My sister thought the same thing but turns out she could get an extra $400/month for 5 years by taking survivors first. That's $24,000 she would have left on the table!
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Have you looked into seeing if there's any way to roll your PERS into an IRA? I have a friend who worked for Missouri government and she said she was able to do something like that which somehow avoided the GPO. Not sure if it would work the same with CalPERS though.
This is incorrect information that could cause serious problems. Rolling a government pension into an IRA does NOT exempt you from GPO. SSA specifically closed this loophole in 2004 with stricter regulations. They will still apply GPO based on the pension you would have received. Please be careful about financial moves based on outdated information.
Oh no sorry about that! My friend must have done this before the rules changed. Thanks for correcting me!
im so confused about all this pension stuff my wife gets her teacher pension and still has her ss but maybe thats bcuz she was a teacher in tennessee? do different states have different rules about this gpo thing??
The GPO/WEP rules are federal rules that apply nationwide, but their impact varies based on whether your wife paid into Social Security during her teaching career. In some states, teachers pay into Social Security and their pension system, while in others (like California, Texas, and several more), they only pay into the pension system. If your wife paid Social Security taxes on her teaching earnings, she would be less affected by these provisions.
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Thank you all for the helpful information! I just wanted to provide an update - I called SSA again and specifically asked about the "grace year" rule. The new representative confirmed what you all said - only my November and December earnings matter for 2025, and since I earned less than $1,850 in each of those months, I won't have any benefits withheld. She apologized for the confusion from my previous call. Such a relief! I appreciate this community so much.
glad it worked out! the SSA can be so confusing sometimes
Just to add my two cents - I know several people who've dealt with earnings limit issues and it's almost always better to proactively contact SSA if you think you might exceed the limit rather than waiting for them to catch it later. If they determine there's an overpayment after the fact, it can be much more stressful to deal with.
That's good advice. I'm planning to work part-time next year, so I'll make sure to keep track of my earnings carefully and notify them if I get close to the limit.
StarStrider
wait so can someone explain if the income cap is different from the tax cap? Do you stop paying SS tax after a certain income? sorry im confused
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Fatima Al-Qasimi
•They're actually the same thing. The income cap (officially called the contribution and benefit base) is $175,500 for 2025. This means: 1. You only pay Social Security taxes on income up to this amount 2. Only income up to this amount counts toward your future benefit calculation So once you earn more than $175,500 in a year, you stop paying the 6.2% Social Security portion of FICA taxes (though you still pay the 1.45% Medicare portion, which has no cap).
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Giovanni Colombo
Thanks everyone for the helpful information! Based on all your advice, I'm going to recommend my wife go ahead with the equipment purchase before year-end. Seems like there's really no Social Security advantage to reporting income above the $175,500 cap, and the immediate tax savings will definitely outweigh any potential SS benefit.
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