To find your Social Security claim number, check any letter the Social Security Administration has sent you about your benefits, sign in to your my Social Security account at ssa.gov, or call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213. The number looks like a nine-digit Social Security number followed by one or two letters, and the SSA uses it to identify your specific benefit record.1Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 133 – Reporting to Social Security
One thing worth knowing before you start hunting: the nine digits in your claim number are not always your own SSN. If you collect benefits on someone else’s work record (a spouse, a parent), the number is built from that worker’s SSN plus a letter suffix identifying you as the beneficiary type.2Social Security Administration. POMS GN 01050.005 – Claim Numbers
Check Your SSA Letters and Forms First
The fastest place to find the number is paperwork the SSA has already mailed you. Look at the top of the first page, near your name and address.
- Your Notice of Award letter, sent when the SSA approved your benefits.
- Any decision letter, benefit adjustment notice, or annual cost-of-living notice you’ve received since.
- If you get disability benefits, the Disability Update Report (Form SSA-455) has a dedicated claim number field just below the name and address section.3Social Security Administration. Disability Update Report Form SSA-455
Before you call or log in, it’s worth a look through wherever you keep government paperwork. The number is almost certainly there.
Use Your My Social Security Account
The SSA’s online portal at ssa.gov lets you access your benefit information without calling or visiting an office. Once signed in, you can view payment details and download a Benefit Verification Letter, a personalized document reflecting your Social Security benefits, SSI, and Medicare coverage.4Social Security Administration. Get Benefit Verification Letter That letter, sometimes called a proof of income letter or budget letter, is commonly requested by lenders and housing programs.
If you don’t already have an account, you’ll create one through Login.gov or ID.me, the SSA’s identity verification partners.5Social Security Administration. Security and Protection – My Social Security Setup requires a government-issued photo ID and your personal information.6Social Security Administration. My Social Security
Call or Visit the SSA
If you don’t have paperwork and don’t want to set up an online account, call the SSA at 1-800-772-1213. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time. Wait times run shorter in the morning, later in the week, and toward the end of the month.7Social Security Administration. Contact Social Security By Phone
You can also visit a local Social Security office. The SSA recommends calling ahead to schedule an appointment first, since some tasks can be handled online and may not need a visit.8Social Security Administration. Make or Change an Appointment
Either way, expect an identity check before anyone reads your claim number aloud. By phone, be ready with your full legal name, Social Security number, and date of birth; you may also be asked for your place of birth or your mother’s maiden name. In person, bring a driver’s license, passport, voter registration card, or similar government-issued ID. If you have no identification at all, you can certify in writing that you are who you claim to be, though falsely requesting someone else’s records is a criminal offense.9Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 401.45 – Verifying Your Identity
Your Medicare Card Will Not Show It
Older guidance sometimes points people to their Medicare card. That no longer works. Between April 2018 and April 2019, Medicare replaced every card in circulation with new ones carrying a randomly generated Medicare Beneficiary Identifier instead of the old Social Security–based Health Insurance Claim Number.10Federal Trade Commission. New Medicare Cards Coming Soon The MBI is 11 characters and has no connection to your Social Security number.11CMS. Understanding the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI) Format If you still have an old card showing an SSN-based number, shred it.12CMS. Medicare Beneficiary Identifiers (MBIs)
What the Letter at the End Means
When you find your claim number, you’ll see a letter (or letter-and-number combination) after the nine digits. This is the beneficiary identification code, or BIC, and it tells the SSA what type of benefit you receive.2Social Security Administration. POMS GN 01050.005 – Claim Numbers The most common ones:
- A: primary claimant on their own work record (retirement or disability).
- B: spouse (age 62 or older) of the primary claimant.
- C: child of the primary claimant, whether a minor, a student, or a disabled adult child.
- D: widow or widower (age 60 or older).
- W: disabled widow or widower (age 50 or older).
- HA: entitled to Medicare Part A only.
When more than one person collects on the same worker’s record, the SSA adds subscript numbers to keep them apart. A “B3” suffix, for instance, identifies a third spouse-claimant on that record. SSI recipients see a different format: their own SSN followed by a two-letter code such as EI or DI.1Social Security Administration. SSA Handbook 133 – Reporting to Social Security
Keep the Number Protected Once You Have It
Because your claim number contains a full Social Security number, treat it the way you’d treat your SSN. Don’t carry documents displaying it in your wallet, and be skeptical of anyone who asks for it outside a direct interaction with the SSA or a healthcare provider.
If you believe your Social Security information has been compromised, you can call 1-800-772-1213 and request a Block Electronic Access on your record. That shuts down automated telephone and online access to your Social Security information, including your own, until you contact the SSA to lift it. Creating a my Social Security account before you need one is another protective step, since it prevents someone else from opening an account in your name if they get hold of your SSN.13Social Security Administration. How You Can Help Us Protect Your Social Security Number