Claimed Social Security at 62? Here’s Why Your Monthly Benefits Could Still Increase

It’s not surprising that 62 is a popular age to claim Social Security. It happens to be the earliest age you can sign up for retirement benefits.

There’s just one problem. If you claim Social Security at 62, your monthly benefits will be reduced substantially.

You may not realize how much of a hit your benefits will take with an early claim until your first Social Security check rolls in. But if you don’t like the number you see, don’t panic. Your Social Security checks could still increase even if you filed at 62. Here’s how.

A little-known rule gives you more options

You may be aware that Social Security benefits are eligible for an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Those yearly raises can boost your monthly checks over time.

But any COLA you get might be modest. And if you claimed Social Security at 62, you may need more than a COLA to boost your checks substantially if you’re unhappy with the monthly sum you’re getting.

Thankfully, there’s a very effective way to increase your Social Security benefits in this situation. You can undo your filing and sign up for benefits again at a later age.

Many people don’t know about Social Security’s do-over option. But it exists, and it could be your ticket to increasing your benefits after reducing them with an early claim.

To undo your Social Security claim, you have to do the following:

• Withdraw your application for benefits within 12 months of having it approved
• Repay all of the money in benefits you received

If you’re able to do both, you can file for Social Security at a later age and increase your monthly payments.

So for example, let’s say you claimed Social Security at 62 and ended up with $1,400 a month in benefits. Waiting until age 67, which is full retirement age (FRA) for people born in 1960 or later,  would’ve given you $2,000 monthly checks instead.

If you undo that early claim and repay your benefits, you can file again at 67 and lock in monthly checks that are $600 higher apiece. And from that point onward, your COLAs should put more money in your pocket, too, since they’ll be based on a larger benefit amount.

Think carefully before you claim Social Security

Of course, the tricky part of taking advantage of Social Security’s do-over rule is repaying the benefits you received. If that money is gone by the time you realize the do-over exists, that option may be off the table.

That’s why it’s important to think carefully about the impact of your filing age before signing up for Social Security. If you realize how much of a hit your benefits will take by claiming them at 62, it may be the push you need to wait longer.

And remember, even if waiting until FRA arrives isn’t feasible, if you can claim benefits at, say, 65 instead of 62, that alone will result in much larger monthly checks. In fact, delaying your claim by a matter of months could still have a positive impact, so it pays to wait as long as you can.