How to restore your Social Security payment if it has been been suspended

Editor’s note: This the third in a series of three articles covering the most important things you want to know about collecting your U.S. Social Security while living in Ecuador. Please note: Representatives from the Social Security Administration will be in Cuenca and Quito this week to answer questions and provide assistance. For details, click here.

By Carolyn V, Hamilton

Has your U.S. Social Security payment has been suspended?
In February 2024, my husband’s social security did not arrive on schedule in his Nevada State Bank account.

After three days of waiting, I logged into the online Social Security Administration account I had created for him the year before to see if there was some update.

Imagine my panic when I saw the word, SUSPENDED!

Six weeks later, after hour-long phone waits to talk to real SSA person, several consulate phone calls, and a $51 DHL to the regional embassy in Santo Domingo, he received that payment.

During those six weeks, the U.S. government continued to make interest on that money, but that’s another story.

The part of his online account that flagged my suspicion was his address. Even though for years I had been careful to maintain formal US addresses for us, his account showed an Ecuadorian address. A building we had moved from two years earlier! I still have no clue how that information appeared in his account!

One SSA representative I spoke to advised me to go online and look at our accounts at least quarterly. With recent U.S. government events, I now schedule to do this monthly. If my account is affected in any way, or my personal information has been compromised in any way, I want to know as soon as possible.

So, what can you do if you discover your social security payment has been suspended?

The one thing you want to do before this ever happens is to have a contingency plan. This means having access in cash or a savings account of a minimum of three months’ income to support yourself. It will also be helpful if you have established an online account with the Social Security Administration and log into it on a regular basis.

Understand that a suspension of benefits is nothing personal, and everything is “figure-outable.” In most circumstances, you can be confident that your payment will be reinstated, after steps on your part.

As an expat living abroad, the first thing you will need to do to reinstate a suspended SSA benefit is to complete the Foreign Enforcement Questionnaire, form SSA 7162.

For a downloadable printable form click here:

You will need to fill out the form with your social security number, date and signature. Note that digital signatures are not accepted, so you will need to download and print out the form.

Next you submit this new original document to our regional embassy in Santo Domingo.

You may send the required documentation using any method or courier service, but you want to be sure the courier service provides a tracking number. DHL has an agreement with the American Citizen Services section and is aware of this procedure. The regional embassy in Santo Domingo will not acknowledge receipt of anything over the phone, so this makes having that tracking number critical.

In my personal experience, I received a phone call from the Santo Domingo office the day they received the reinstatement document, and they were quite helpful.

Once they receive the necessary documents, your benefits should be reinstated within about seven business days.

Here is some useful contact information:

U.S. EMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
Unidad de Beneficios Federales (FBU)
Av. República de Colombia #57
Santo Domingo
República Dominicana
Código postal 10505
Telephone: +1-809-368-7011

DHL, you can send an e-mail to embassy.doc@dhl.com or via WhatsApp to +593-9-9939-1700.

US Embassy & Consulate in Ecuador
https://ec.usembassy.gov

American Citizen Services (ACS):

Quito
+593-2-382-0600

Guayaquil
+593-4-380-5540
+593-4-390-2550

United States
+1-703-249-4669

With all the new sudden and unpredictable changes happening now with our US government, it’s even more important than ever to have as much information about what will affect expats the most—our social security benefits.

The most important thing you can do for yourself is to stay informed about your rights and responsibilities as an expat regarding your Social Security benefits.
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Carolyn V, Hamilton is a best-selling, award-winning, multi-genre author who spent several decades in Las Vegas in the real world of “Mad Men.” She was also the founder of the regional magazine, “Nevada Woman.” She is currently celebrating her 13th year as an expat in Cuenca.