The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that it is combing the current Social Security Number (SSN) database, calling it the most comprehensive record “cleanup” in the agency’s 91-year history.
“Accurate SSN records prevent fraud across federal programs and support the proper administration of benefits,” Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement. The SSA said it is working with agencies across the federal government and in states “to validate identities and prevent improper payments of taxpayer dollars.”
According to the agency, since the beginning of the Trump administration, it has “corrected nearly 15% of all active SSNs across approximately 330 million U.S. citizens and nearly 390 million total records.”
While the agency argues the actions are an example of how the government is trying to “safeguard identity data, prevent fraud, and preserve proper program administration,” some worry this could lead to people losing their access to Social Security benefits.
“The reality is, when you change tens of millions of records, even a tiny error rate means real people, often retirees who depend on that check, can get caught in the middle,” Robert Laura, a financial planner and founder of the Retirement Coaches Association, told Fast Company. “The goal should be accuracy in both directions: stopping fraud without cutting off people who are very much alive.”
For retirees, Laura recommends either contacting Social Security or logging in to their Social Security account to make sure their information is correct.
“If a payment stops or a letter arrives that doesn’t make sense, act on it right away,” he says.
In conjunction with data from the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) service, the SSA also added approximately 25 million records that previously had “missing citizenship information,” and said it was currently in the process of “correcting an additional 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship status.”
The agency also said it has “added 17 million dates of death to records that previously lacked this information, using a combination of internal SSA systems and Department of State data.”
“Keeping Social Security’s records accurate is basic good housekeeping,” Laura told Fast Company, adding that “the agency’s own inspector general recommended filling in missing death records back in 2023 under President Joe Biden.”
Some 71 million Americans—including 54 million retired workers and 9 million of their survivors and dependents—currently receive monthly Social Security benefits, according to the SSA.