T.S Eliot famously set off on his epic poem“The Waste Land” by declaring it the cruelest month but April has an additional identity as National Social Security Month, even if the notion is still to catch on at a truly national scale. There is certainly little evidence of this august event in Social Security offices around Maryland, at least, but that may be due to the agency’s continued push to promote its services by encouraging beneficiaries to sign up with a my social security account.

There are a now a number of on-line services that can be conducted away from those Social Security offices and they include the possibility of requesting a replacement Social Security card; following up on the status of an application for benefits; or securing proof of your benefits amount.

Further features of the on-line option including setting up a direct deposit for receipt of your benefits, and an opportunity to avoid those queues by reporting a change in address through your account. As has been the case for a while for SSDI recipients and is still a fairly new innovation for SSI beneficiaries, you can also report monthly earned income through the account.

Of course, while communication on-line is so often convenient, those offices are still around for in-person assistance, and you can still call the general telephone line at 1-800-772-1213 if you just need to speak to someone about anything and all things Social Security.

For more on-line information you can go to https://www.ssa.gov/