The final round of this month’s Social Security Administration (SSA) payments arrives today for this group. Every month, the SSA sends millions of payments to its beneficiaries, the majority of whom are retirees. In addition to retirees, the SSA also supports beneficiaries of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) fund, as well as those who receive Disability benefits. Each of these funds has different qualifying criteria, and the amount you receive in benefits from each fund is also dependent on a variety of criteria.

How to qualify for SSA benefits: What are the eligibility criteria?

To qualify to receive SSA benefits, you need to check the eligibility criteria for each fund, as they differ according to which one you want to receive benefits from. The SSA Retirement fund is the most utilized fund by beneficiaries, with qualifying criteria fairly well known by most. To qualify to receive Retirement benefits from the SSA, you need to ensure that you have achieved the following core criteria:

You are at least 62 years old.
You have achieved at least 40 credits from the SSA (equivalent to paying Social Security taxes on your income for ten years).

Additionally, when qualifying for Retirement benefits, alternative sources of income that you may plan to draw upon in your retirement will not affect your eligibility to receive SSA benefits. However, this is not the case for SSI and Disability benefits. In order to qualify for SSI benefits, you need to demonstrate that you have access to very few resources and income, with a monthly income that does not exceed $2,109. For Disability benefits, you can also only qualify if you have a disability that renders you unable to earn an income to support yourself. If your income circumstance changes, then it impacts your eligibility to receive either SSI or Disability benefits.

Who will receive the full benefits amount of $4,018 this week?

According to the Social Security payment schedule, today, 24 September 2025, is the final payment date for SSA beneficiaries of either Disability or Retirement. SSA benefits are staggered throughout the month according to which fund you receive benefits from, as well as when your birthdate is. General payments are always made every Wednesday throughout the month, with SSI payments made on the first of the month.

If you have a birthdate between the 21st and 31st of any given month, today is when your benefits should be expected to arrive. For beneficiaries who reached the full retirement age this year, they can claim the maximum Social Security payment benefit of $4,108. However, if you waited to claim your retirement benefits until you were 70 years old, this maximum payment would have been boosted to $5,108. This is because the SSA rewards beneficiaries with higher monthly benefits if you choose to delay claiming your benefits until you reach 70 years old, after which there is no additional benefit for you to wait to claim. 

New changes coming for SSA beneficiaries: Stay informed

This month saw the last round of paper SSA benefits checks being distributed to SSA beneficiaries. From next month, the SSA will only be making its payments through direct deposit. However, there are certain exceptions to this change, with some beneficiaries still allowed to receive their benefits through paper checks.

This month saw SSA payments be distributed as usual according to the regular SSA payment schedule, except for SSI payments, which were paid on August 29 due to September 1 being Labor Day. When anticipated SSA payment dates fall on a holiday or weekend, they are advanced to the closest working day. Next month, SSA beneficiaries can expect to have the new cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) statistic announced, which will determine by how much SSA benefits will be raised for the new year.

Disclaimer: This content is informational only and does not supersede or replace the SSA’s or IRS’s own publications and notices. Always verify any specific dates and amounts by following the direct links in our article to SSA.gov or IRS.gov, or by consulting your local SSA field office or tax professional.