Ever have to show your Social Security Card? S/O of organizing and storing important documents thread

[Sacahara]

Not sure if this counts but when my mother passed and I was the beneficiary of her retirement, I had to provide a copy of mine for the claim.

 

[tvguy]

I had to show it when I was applying for a census taker job in1990, 2000 and 2010.
Also it was used for Medicare. Every health care provider had to see it on each visit. Medicare now uses a different number.

Almost every private Health Insurance company used to use your Social Security number as your ID number. I was in charge of our Little League's registration system which required health insurance information. be entered into software and uploaded to National Little League. Most of those ID numbers were the parents Social Security numbers back in 1999. I still have that old laptop in the closet, some day I will get rid of it, but not before I remove and destroy the hard drive. Millions of parents Social SEcurity numbers from that era may still be on private hard drives and Little League baseballs hard drives.

 

[Moliphino]

i am old enough to remember when college id numbers WERE our social security numbers AND test results with the full social security numbers (but not our names) were posted on bulletin boards outside the classrooms you had to present the card when you first enrolled at the college

I think MA used to use your SSN as your drivers license number. That's illegal now.

 

[tvguy]

i am old enough to remember when college id numbers WERE our social security numbers AND test results with the full social security numbers (but not our names) were posted on bulletin boards outside the classrooms you had to present the card when you first enrolled at the college

any job i had required it for payroll

when my father passed and i was eligible for dependant social security benefits the physical card had to be presented to the social security administration





that's a holdover from when the system was changed. it used to be that your medicare identification number was your social security number but then some years back (due in large part to concerns over identity theft) medicare went to their own numeric id system which is internaly cross-referenced to social security's data base





and you better hope that the hands that handle it are attentive b/c if they glitch and you have to unravel it then having the hard paper documents in hand can make a huge difference in unraveling the mess. i once had to assist a man whose mother was killed (system wise) in the social security database. the woman was in her late 90's in a nursing home and everything STOPPED-

pension
social security
medicare
medicaid
bank accounts (those w/no co-owners) frozen

because all feed off the social security death registry.

poor guy was getting calls from the nursing home due to unpaid bills. nursing home did what they could, social security was of no help (hours on end waiting to get through to a rep who then said get an appointment, appointments weeks and weeks out...). within the agency i worked for there was one sole person who could take corrective action but we had to have hard documents presented to us to personaly attest to the identity of both the representative and the 'decedent in question'. luckily this man had all his and his mom's certified bc's and social security cards so his mom could be electronicaly resurrected (after which he had to still put all the other agencies/banks on notice to re-run mom's number).

I don't know what my mom had to do to get my Social Security Dependent benefits when my dad died when I was 9. I just remember her saying getting Social Security benefits was MUCH easier than getting VA survivors benefits. Funny thing is, the Social Security benefits were 20 times more than the VA benefits. Social SEcurity wanted no documentation, VA wanted an accounting of how their $25 was spent each month.
My college too used SS number as your ID number so it was posted with all the grades. And they even suggested having your SS number pre-printed on your checks!

 

[tvguy]

I think MA used to use your SSN as your drivers license number. That's illegal now.

My first California Driver's :License had my Social Security number printed on it in addition to the actually license number. Funny thing is, when I got my real ID Driver's license I had to provide the SS number again. Apparently they purged that from their records years ago.

 

[tvguy]

Not sure if this counts but when my mother passed and I was the beneficiary of her retirement, I had to provide a copy of mine for the claim.

When my mom died, all I had to do was send a Death Certificate. I was already listed as the beneficiary, so they sent a check as soon as they got the Death Certificate.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Social Security cards are actually very helpful when it comes to proving identification for DMV in some states (NJ) as well as for employment verification on I9's. Outside of that I don't recall using my card or requesting anybody else's card.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Yup I've had to use it as a most HR people can't read that a passport is all that is needed.

I then have to show the DL and SSN Card

I mean... the I9 form instructions are pretty clear if you read the darn thing. I am THRILLED when somebody walks in with a passport. YES TYVM!

 

[RedAngie]

i am old enough to remember when college id numbers WERE our social security numbers AND test results with the full social security numbers (but not our names) were posted on bulletin boards outside the classrooms you had to present the card when you first enrolled at the college

My university did the same with test results. A few professors took the time and effort to cut the physical alphabetical list into several pieces and post them randomly so no one could determine what grade Andrew Abott or Zygmund Zygawa received.

 

[Sacahara]

When my mom died, all I had to do was send a Death Certificate. I was already listed as the beneficiary, so they sent a check as soon as they got the Death Certificate.

Hers made me send in a death certificate and a copy even though I was listed as her 100% beneficiary. I also had to fill out a form (that I had to wait for it to be mailed) and get it notarized. It took months to get everything done because of the long back and forth process.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Not that I can recall.

I'll take that back. I used it for obtaining my Real ID driver's license a couple years ago. I could have used my passport or SS card, if I recall, but passport needed to be renewed at the time. It was easier to order a replacement SS card online and use that.

 

[princesscinderella]

My kids have needed their SS Card for getting their initial driver's license.

 

[Diznygrl]

Yes, I needed it to get my Real ID...I looked all over for it and couldn't find it, so had to get it replaced. I didn't even know you could do it online (I guess CA started that in 2017) so I went to the actual social security office to do it. It was also then that I found out you're allowed up to 10 replacements throughout your lifetime.

 

[jimmymc]

I think I used it as a secondary ID when I first got my driver's license. That was the last time.

 

[tony67]

When I lived in Massachusetts we used to have SSN for the Drivers License or you could opt for something else I also opted for something else.

In college SSN was used and displayed on far too many documents.
I recall punch cards with your grades and SSN back in the mid 80s.

In the Military SSN was used for all sort of things as well - I still have all sorts of docs and orders with my SSN on it.
I assume they no longer do that.

As for the actual Social Security card - I think you only need it when you apply for benefits.
Also if you want a REAL ID it is one of the options.

One of the odd things is you cant have it laminated or anything like that to protect it. They will not take it.
So you had to apply and be sent a new SS card.

 

[tvguy]

Hers made me send in a death certificate and a copy even though I was listed as her 100% beneficiary. I also had to fill out a form (that I had to wait for it to be mailed) and get it notarized. It took months to get everything done because of the long back and forth process.

I was lucky. Everything with my mom's estate was done within two months of here death, house sold, car sold, life insurance, pensions, bank accounts with two exceptions.

1) Refund of her flood insurance premium from FEMA. That took six months to get, and I was concerned I would not get it because they would only send the check to her address, the address that they insured. By then I had sold the house and while I had the mail forwarded, I was concerned it would not get forwarded. It did, fortunately.

2) Filing her final tax return. But that was not due until April 15th of the year after she passed.

 

[barkley]

And they even suggested having your SS number pre-printed on your checks!

i remember that being pretty common on checks back in the 80's. some took it step further and put their driver's license number on it as well.

I don't know what my mom had to do to get my Social Security Dependent benefits when my dad died when I was 9.

i was 19 and in the last wave of kids who received until age 22 if attending college so i had to submit proof of class registration/successful completion every term.

Hers made me send in a death certificate and a copy even though I was listed as her 100% beneficiary. I also had to fill out a form (that I had to wait for it to be mailed) and get it notarized. It took months to get everything done because of the long back and forth process.

after we had to deal with the nightmare that is the california public employee's retirement system (calPERS) when mil passed (the paperwork required, not knowing who was named as beneficiary(s) and them not releasing that information so it bcoming a guessing game, the insane timeline for them to process....) we made sure that the that any pensions dh and i were eligible to had extensive documentation filed along with our wills. we also got p.o.a.'s filed with those entities b/c some-like calPERS-will ONLY accept their own issued form, and don't even think about it being notarized out of the state of california cuz they don't like that. it only took them 10 months (pre-pandemic 'expedient' timelines) for them to process and accept their form

 

[tony67]

I was lucky. Everything with my mom's estate was done within two months of here death, house sold, car sold, life insurance, pensions, bank accounts with two exceptions.

Probable depends on the state.
Even with a will and a lawyer it took three month to be appointed to be able to do anything.
Then you have a year from that date to sort out things and wait for bills and claims to come in etc.. before you can actually close out the estate.

 

[tvguy]

Yes, I needed it to get my Real ID...I looked all over for it and couldn't find it, so had to get it replaced. I didn't even know you could do it online (I guess CA started that in 2017) so I went to the actual social security office to do it. It was also then that I found out you're allowed up to 10 replacements throughout your lifetime.

I didn't need it when I got mine here in California.
And looking at the checklist, a Social Security Card isn't even an option for any of the requirements.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/driver-licenses-identification-cards/real-id/real-id-checklist/#error

 

[tvguy]

Probable depends on the state.
Even with a will and a lawyer it took three month to be appointed to be able to do anything.
Then you have a year from that date to sort out things and wait for bills and claims to come in etc.. before you can actually close out the estate.

That could be. But in my case I was the beneficiary of my mom's trust, which only had the house in it, so the minute she died I was the owner. And I was co-owner of all her bank accounts and car going back to 1975 when I turned 18.