SSA to make planned ID checks for additional phone transactions ‘entirely optional’

The Social Security Administration says that it is altering planned requirements for callers to pass identity checks to request a claims status, change their address, get tax documents or get a benefit verification letter via SSA’s phone lines. 

The plan, hidden in a regulatory filing dated July 18, started garnering attention and pushback this week over concerns about how the requirement could affect people who struggle to use the agency’s technology, especially those in rural areas and with limited transportation options.

That public filing outlined a regime where callers would have to log into SSA online to get a one-time code that would prove their identity in order to get help with those four transactions. Since the spring, the agency has required users to supply that pin to change their direct deposit information over the phone. 

Now, an SSA spokesperson says that it will update the document “to clarify that the use of the Security Authentication PIN (SAP) feature is entirely optional.”

“We are encouraging my Social Security accountholders to use the enhanced SAP feature to quickly and securely verify their identity when calling the National 800 Number,” they said, noting that the existing processes to verify identity will remain on the agency’s phone line. 

The agency had estimated that the policy requiring people to verify themselves with a PIN would send over three million people to SSA field offices, but the spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW that “beneficiaries and my Social Security accountholders will not be required to visit a field office if they do not choose to use the SAP feature.”

The previous plan also allowed callers to do these transactions now requiring additional ID checks in their online account, although that same account would be used to get the one-time code.

SSA didn’t immediately respond to additional questions including if the pin will still be required for direct deposit changes, why people would opt-in to the PIN, why SSA is standing up the feature if it isn’t required or when the regulatory filing would be updated. 

The agency had said that the coming restrictions were meant to address fraud risks.

This isn’t the first time that SSA has planned new constraints on its phone lines only to walk them back. 

SSA previously announced in March that it was eliminating the option for people to file claims or change bank information over the phone before changing the policy to allow claims to be made while the agency runs a new anti-fraud check on the back end.

The latest plans for ID checks on the agency’s phone lines had come as a surprise to those working within the agency, employees previously told Nextgov/FCW.