\u201cIn July, we announced that we completed sending over 3.1 million payments, totaling over $17 billion, to beneficiaries eligible under the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA), 5 months ahead of schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n
24\/7 Online Access and Increased Use<\/p>\n
Bisignano also pointed to improvements to the SSA\u2019s online portal. He said he discovered shortly after taking office that the website was routinely offline for more than a full day each week, leaving beneficiaries without immediate access to their information.<\/p>\n
He said that prior to his tenure as commissioner, which began in May, the SSA\u2019s online portal,\u00a0my\u00a0Social Security, had a “scheduled downtime of 29 hours a week, leaving Americans without instant access to their benefit information.”<\/p>\n
“As a result of the quick actions taken by my leadership team this past summer, Americans now have 24\/7 access to their Social Security information online,” Bisignano wrote.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1203882906-3.jpg\"\/)
Shorter Waits by Phone and in Office<\/p>\n
The commissioner said the agency also made gains in customer service, including faster response times and increased use of automated tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the use of technology and proper allocation of resources, we have been able to reduce the year-over-year average speed of answer from 28 minutes in Fiscal Year 2024 to 15 minutes in Fiscal Year 2025, while serving 65 percent more callers than the previous year. In addition, nearly 90 percent of calls are now resolved via self-service or convenient callbacks, methods Americans frequently use when contacting organizations in both the public and private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Office visits saw similar improvements, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn-office wait times are down almost 27 percent to 22 minutes from 30 minutes at the end of last year. Visitors who had a scheduled appointment only waited around 6 minutes on average to receive assistance. This has been made possible with changes to the field office phone systems now allowing for nearly 30% of calls to be handled instantaneously through technology, which gives our teams more time to focus on customers needing help in-person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the SSA’s acting inspector general launched a review into call center wait times and the agency\u2019s broader capacity to deliver services.<\/p>\n