What Benefits am I on Now?

The first step in benefits planning is to know your current situation. A Benefits Planning Query (BPQY) from Social Security can help. This free report provides details on your SSI and SSDI benefits, your work history, and your earnings history.

A BPQY can also be very helpful when using DB101's Benefits and Work Estimator.

How to Request Your Own BPQY

You should be able to get a BPQY by doing any one of the following:

When requesting a BPQY, you may have to ask more than once. If you reach someone who doesn't know how to get a BPQY for you, ask to speak to a supervisor.

Requesting a BPQY for Someone Else

Social Security has strict privacy rules that make it hard to get someone else's information. To have a BPQY released to a family member, representative payee, or some other third party, you need to do two things:

  1. Fill out, sign, and submit Form SSA-3288 to Social Security, authorizing release of your Social Security records to a third party. You can use the sample text in the Benefits Planning Query Handbook to make this request.
  2. Fill out, sign, and submit another Form SSA-3288 to Social Security, authorizing release of your Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records to a third party. Again, you can use the sample text in the Benefits Planning Query Handbook to make this request.

You should make both requests to Social Security at the same time. If you have questions, call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 or visit your local office.

What if my BPQY Has Errors?

This free report provides details on your SSI and SSDI benefits, your work history, and your earnings history.

If there are errors in your BPQY, it's important that you act quickly to get Social Security to correct it. You can Chat with a Hub expert and ask them to help you with this or you can contact Social Security directly at 1-800-772-1213.

If there are errors on your BPQY, it could mean there are mistakes in your Social Security benefits.

Sample BPQY

A BPQY looks something like this:

BPQY Sample