Extra check coming to some Social Security recipients in November: Here’s why

(NEXSTAR) — It may be hard to believe, but November is fast approaching. With it will come Election Day, Thanksgiving, and, for some 7 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries, an extra check.

It’s all thanks to a quirk in the 2024 calendar.

SSI recipients typically receive one payment a month from the Social Security Administration, which oversees the program. These checks are usually dispersed on the first day of the month, but when that day falls on a weekend or a holiday, the payments are sent out on the previous weekday.

It’s only been a couple of months since such a blip occurred.

In August, SSI beneficiaries received both that month’s payment and September’s check. Then in September, no checks were dispersed.

November will be like August, with beneficiaries receiving that month’s check as well as December’s payment, since December 1 falls on a Sunday.

There will, however, be a payment dispersed in December, thanks to another wonky calendar in 2025. The first days of January, February, and March all fall on holidays or the weekend.

Because of this, January’s benefits will be sent on December 31.

There will be an SSI payment on January 31, but it is February’s payment. The SSI payment on February 28 is technically March’s payment. Then, there will be no payments sent in March, followed by a normal April.

Regardless of when the payments come, SSI beneficiaries will still receive all of their intended checks. Receiving two SSI payments in one month and none in another may, however, lead to some slight budget adjustments.

If you receive regular Social Security benefits, not SSI, you will be unaffected in November and December, according to the agency’s payment calendar.

You may, however, be impacted by the cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, announced by the Social Security Administration earlier this month.

The latest COLA is 2.5 percent, down from 3.2 percent last year and 8.7 percent in 2022, reflecting easing inflation. COLAs are calculated with a formula based on the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).