At Globe Live Media we explain if your credit score can affect your Social Security benefits in the US and what the soft identity verification process on your credit report carried out by this federal institution consists of.
Strictly speaking, your credit score has no bearing on and cannot affect your benefits from the Social Security program in the United States. So regardless of whether you have a 500 or 850 credit score, your benefits won’t change because of that, but because of the credits you’ve contributed to this federal program.
However, it should be noted that there are certain debts that can cause your benefits from Social Security to be seized or reduced, at least until your debt is fully settled.
For example, there are circumstances in which your Social Security benefits may be garnished to enforce a legal obligation to meet outstanding child support or pension payments. The embargo for this type of circumstance is determined based on local laws.
Similarly, the Department of the Treasury may withhold part of your Social Security benefits to pay off federal tax debts or even non-tax debts owed to other federal agencies (such as government student loans), under federal law (specifically the Social Security Improvement Act). Debt Collection Act of 1996). The institution will notify the user of this measure if it finds any debt of a non-tax nature.
Despite this, we reiterate: the credit score does not have a direct impact on Social Security benefits.
Can identity verification by Social Security affect my credit score?
On the other hand, it should be noted that identity verification by Social Security is not a process that will not affect your credit score, although it does involve a “soft check” of your credit report, according to information published by the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The “soft check” or “soft check” is a process that some financial organizations carry out on your credit report to review aspects such as your debts or your credit score.
The “hard checks”, on the other hand, are those reviews on your credit report that will make you lose points, and these are carried out by lenders at the time you request new lines of financing.
These checks will be removed from your credit report after 12 months of being made, and will not be viewable by creditors.
It should be noted that if you have a fraud alert on your credit report, you will not be able to create your digital account on the Social Security website. If this happens, you’ll need to ask Social Security’s identity service provider to remove the alert.