I believe I set up a user name for SS mid 2021. When I try to attach my account to login.gov it says it can’t attach my social security number. I’ve tried 3 different browsers.
I already had a login.gov account from a couple years ago when I tried to sign up for global entry. That account is linked.
I guess I will try to call at some point but that’s always a crap shoot.
I am sure that this option to use my user name will suddenly disappear and I am due to sign up for medicare and ss in the coming months. I suppose I can do it all by phone…
This seems like the kind of situation that random strangers on the internet wouldn’t be able to help you with (and you shouldn’t share your sensitive government numbers with them even if they could help!)
It’s a login and account linking issue on their end, it sounds like? Gather all your deets and give 'em a ring
Yes but it seems that the user name/password option will be disappearing soon lol.
Hey - I did everything by phone for my dad so I imagine I can do it by phone for me if needed.
Our local ss office is bonkers. They will not allow you to come to the office at all - claims of being understaffed. Everything has to occur by phone or online.
I suspect the hold up is some kind of activation code which I cannot find out how to request online.
ISTM that I set up my id.me account for some other site, just as you did. Then, later, after logging in the SS website with my SS username, I linked back to the id.me account. So basically the opposite way that you tried.
Might be worth a shot, if you haven’t already tried that method.
I tried doing that awhile back and it was a bit complicated but if I have to I guess I can attempt again. It only works with a phone and my phone is a cantankerous twit.
So I found a retirement forum with people discussing the login.gov issues.
About 90% of the comments indicated no problems and seamless transitions.
It seems that some people are selected for a different verification routine. Might be random, might be some other algorithm, but apparently not everyone goes through the same routine, hence the difference in reported experiences.
Some people get through without any added layers. Some people are getting these authentication codes via snail mail or text or email. It varies. I wasn’t even notified that one would be sent lol.
Or maybe…I missed something in the mail? Without knowing what it was.
Super frustrating and I am pretty computer fluent.
I have had an account with SSA for years; last time I had to log in, I needed to do the login dot gov step and go through the id dot me process. This was within the past year or so; I know I did NOT have to jump through any hoops when helping my MIL establish her account in early 2023.
I had experience with id dot me from the other direction, a couple years back, when doing phone support for unemployment applicants who were forced to use it to prove their identity. Luckily in my case, the process went far more smoothly than with the people I was attempting to help.
If we ever need to get back into MIL’s account, that’ll be… fun, as I would imagine they’d force us to go through the same steps I personally had to.
Thank you for your input. It seems most people do not have a problem.
I must have been selected for additional verification.
At work I have had to log into countless security verification websites and really don’t keep track of them so maybe something triggered an alert? Who knows.
Oh I imagine this will be a pain in the royal butt. But I am tenacious and have solved a lot problems through the years for myself and other people. It just gets tiring.
I am chuckling imagining some of your ID me verification experiences. If I recall that one wanted all kinds of documentation and a face scan? My phone tripped out and I think I ended the process.
I hope you will have an easy time getting back into your MIL’s account if you ever need to do so.
These systems are needlessly complicated.
Another thought: In July we had a post office scoundrel who was hiding mail bags and marking them undeliverable. Half of our foster parents never received their monthly checks and other assorted lost mail malarkey. Maybe something of mine got caught up in that lol?
Yeah - I had to do some kind of selfie with my phone, as well as (I think) sending copies of my license and SS card.
A lot of the people I was dealing with had done all that and STILL didn’t get confirmed. In a lot of cases, they simply did not have those documents available. And this was during the COVID shutdowns - which meant that a) they could not go to an unemployment office in person, and b) if they wanted to order SS card, birth certificate etc. that could take weeks or months. It was a nightmare.
I dropped off paperwork to have withholding taken from my social security checks. The office in Kittanning was scary! There was an armed cop/security guy in the vestibule and a receptionist behind bullet proof glass behind him. The windows were covered. It was really strange, like they were expecting insurrection.
Called local Social Security office. Actually got through relatively easily. The person I spoke with said that they were not trained in these new log in protocols and had no advice on what to do except to call login.gov.
He stated that he could see my attempts to log on on his end.
He said if all of my attempts to resolve this issue fail they can delete my original account and start all over again but he was hesitant to do that.
Yikes!
The guy did explain that I could do whatever I need to via the phone and we can now drop by the office to ask questions/drop off documents/etc. So I always have that option.
Will deal with the login.gov call tomorrow. Had enough bureaucracy for today.
Spoke with someone @ the main Social Security office and they cannot help me.
They directed me to call my local social security office to get an activation code. That is where I started and they said they had no idea how to help me.
So I have struck out.
The only option is to delete both the login.gov and the social security account and start over.
After 2 days and hours of frustration I called my local social security office and got a different person on the phone who was able to resolve my problem.
He said he would send me a letter with a reset code in the mail and I should get it in about a week.
I have no idea why this was so difficult.
But at least I figured it out eventually.
Just updating this in case anyone else has this bizarre problem.
The primary reason it’s so difficult is that if they made it easy and all online, the Bulgarian mafia would have changed (read “hijacked”) a couple hundred thousand accounts before breakfast.
Involving live customer service workers and snail mail is a throttle on the bad guys.
It was just so frustrating trying to find someone to give me the activation code for my account to link the two.
Everyone else I talked to/encountered online appeared to have done this transition seamlessly.
And yes the hackers are out in full force these days. I have to navigate a ton of new security protocols at work which I will facilitate when I return from my trip.
Was just relieved to get this particular one resolved.
Yikes!