Fix an error in your Social Security earnings record before it shrinks your benefit

Go to ssa.gov/myaccount and choose Create an Account. This produces the account you will use to pull the official record and, later, to file the correction. The tricky part is identity verification: SSA no longer issues its own sign-in usernames, so you prove who you are through Login.gov or ID.me before the account exists.

Have ready: your Social Security number, date of birth, name exactly as printed on your Social Security card, your U.S. mailing address, an email address, and a phone number. Both providers require two-factor authentication and an identity check. Pick one of these paths: upload a photo of your state-issued driver’s license or passport (Login.gov or ID.me), answer questions drawn from your credit history (Login.gov), or take a video call with an ID.me agent. If one provider rejects you, try the other — a thin credit file often blocks the question path but passes the ID upload.

Common setup failures and their fixes. Failed verification: check that your name matches your Social Security card exactly and that you typed your address as SSA has it on file; if the credit questions fail twice, switch to the ID-upload or video-call path. Locked process: repeated failures block further attempts for up to a day — stop, fix the cause, and come back.