Decoding Social Security ‘Claim’ Numbers

Decoding Social Security ‘Claim’ Numbers
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Tom Margenau
Updated:

Q: I am a 78-year-old recent widow. I got my own Social Security number when I was about 20. But since my husband and I started getting Social Security benefits about 15 years ago, the correspondence I got from the Social Security Administration showed my husband’s Social Security number with a letter “B” behind it. Somebody at a Social Security office once told me this meant I was getting wife’s benefits on his record. How does the letter “B” stand for a wife? And now that my husband has died, I notice that any mail I get from the SSA shows my husband’s number with a letter “D.” Does this mean “deceased?”

A: No, it doesn’t mean deceased. Believe it or not, it stands for “widow!” So you may legitimately wonder why in the world a “D” means widow. Shouldn’t it be a “W,” perhaps? I will use this column to explain the mysterious world of Social Security claim numbers. These numbers are sometimes referred to as BIC codes. BIC stands for “beneficiary identification code.”

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
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