There are numerous essential documents or items that can be lost, but the Social Security Card is by far the most crucial. However, the loss or theft of this document is not the end of the world.
One can retrieve it through a variety of means. In contrast to a standard identification card or a passport, the Social Security Card is not required everywhere.
Lost Social Security Card
What is most important is knowing your Social Security number, but there is a method to replace and revoke a lost or stolen card. Today, there are numerous impersonators who use stolen documents to defraud individuals.
If you’ve misplaced your Social Security Card, you don’t want your identity to be used by these scumbags to continue thieving from others or blackmailing them. Cybercriminals frequently use stolen social security cards to commit online deception, obtain loans, and even create credit card accounts in the victim’s name.
This may also provide them with a secure method of accessing your online bank or credit card accounts. If they do so, they can easily use your funds to purchase electronics, dine at expensive restaurants, stay in hotels, or acquire any other item they desire. You must act immediately if you do not want your identity to be taken.
If you have lost or had your Social Security card stolen, you must follow a straightforward series of steps. You must first issue a fraud alert with each of the three national credit bureaus. These credit reporting agencies are Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.
These credit bureaus already take the necessary precautions to ensure that your sensitive information has not been compromised, but fraudsters can still circumvent their filters.
You must also obtain your free credit reports, examine your other financial accounts, establish passwords, freeze your credit, notify the IRA of your lost Social Security card, and submit a report with the FTC.
If these procedures are followed, your personal information will be protected. As previously stated, the card itself is less essential than memorizing your number.
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COLA 2024
Despite warnings that beneficiaries are losing purchasing power, recipients of Social Security should not expect the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) 2024 to be as significant as 2023.
Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League, stated in a news release last week that the 2024 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) could be around 3.1%.
The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL), a nonpartisan senior advocacy organization, has based its estimates of future COLA increases on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and specifically its Consumer Price Indexes for years — the same data that the Social Security Administration ultimately uses to determine its annual COLA increases.
The 8.7% increase in 2023 was the largest COLA increase in over four decades, due in part to supply-chain disruptions that contributed to rising inflation during the pandemic. However, TSCL analysts are concerned that cooling inflation — or at least the appearance of cooling inflation — will result in a reduced COLA increase in 2024, which could have negative effects on beneficiaries.
Read more: Potential cases of social security benefit garnishment for old debts: What you need to know