25 Nov 87 17:29:12  
From: Barbara Bennett
To:   All
Subject: Social Security Information

 I have worked for the Social Security Administration for the last 15
 years. I worked in various local offices as a claims representative
 for 9 years, and have spent the last 6 years as a computer systems
 analyst at headquarters, 4 1/2 years of that in the Enumeration
 Systems Branch. I have put together several messages which will
 address the questions you have about getting information from the
 Social Security Administration for genealogical purposes. Sysops may
 wish to combine the messages into a file for people to download.
 Although I am employed by SSA, I am sending these messages as a
 private individual, not as a representative of the Social Security
 Administration. I hope they clear up a lot of the confusion about what
 is and isn't available and how to go about getting what is available.
 

                          DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

 Disclosure of information by SSA is governed mainly by the Social
 Security Act itself, the Freedom of Information Act of 1974, the
 Privacy Act of 1974, and the Tax Reform Act of 1976. In general,
 information about a LIVING person MAY NOT be released to a third party
 unless the individual has signed a written authorization for release
 of that information. The fact of an individual's death, date of death,
 and place of death or burial may be disclosed to anyone. Any other
 information, other than tax return information, in a DECEASED
 individual's record MAY BE DISCLOSED as long as any information in the
 record pertaining to other living individuals is deleted from the
 record prior to disclosure. The Tax Reform Act of 1976 prohibits
 disclosure of tax return information without the consent of the
 individual to whom the record pertains. This prohibition continues
 even after the death of an individual. Requests for tax return
 information for a deceased individual may be released to the legal
 representative of the estate; surviving relative (spouse, parent,
 child); or heir at law, next of kin, or beneficiary of the deceased.
 Proof of one of the listed relationships must be provided with the
 request for information.


               REQUEST FOR EXTRACTS OF PRIOR SSN APPLICATIONS

 SSA originally maintained paper files of all applications for original
 SSN's and applications requesting a change in the record. In the
 1970s, these files were converted to an electronic database. The
 application forms were microfilmed for retention and the paper forms
 destroyed. Current applications are microfilmed; the paper forms are
 retained in the Federal Records Center for 5 years and then destroyed.
 
 There are 2 types of SSN application extracts which can be furnished
 upon request.
 
 (1) The Numident printout is a computer printed record which contains
     all the information on the original application form except the
     address and signature of the applicant.
 
 (2) A microprint is a print of the microfilmed application form.
     Either of these items may be furnished to anyone upon written request
     and confirmation of death where this is not detrimental to the estate
     and there does not appear to be an unwarranted invasion of privacy of
     a living person; i.e., the parents of the deceased who are listed on
     the application form. There is no charge for this service.
 
 The microprint will not show the SSN assigned as a result of the
 application; thus, the requester will receive both a microprint and a
 Numident printout when a microprint is requested. TO REQUEST AN
 EXTRACT: call your local SSA office and request form SSA-L997 SOCIAL
 SECURITY NUMBER RECORD THIRD PARTY REQUEST FOR EXTRACT OR PHOTOCOPY.
 The form asks for identifying information as follows:
 
 1) SSN, if known
 
 2) full name of the person now used (or last used, for deceased ind)
 
 3) name shown on last social security card
 
 4) the individual's full name at birth
 
 5) the individual's date of birth
 
 6) the place of birth
 
 7) sex
 
 8) full maiden name of the mother
 
 9) full name of the father
 
 The form does not provide a place to indicate which type of extract
 you want, so enter the following legend on the form: "Microprint
 Required, Printout Not Sufficient". The form also does not include a
 place to indicate that you are requesting information on a deceased
 individual. I would annotate the form with a statement that the
 individual is deceased. Attach proof of death, if you can, to expedite
 the request. Information about the death of an individual has not been
 maintained on the Social Security Number records, so your request may
 be delayed or denied if it is not obvious that the person is deceased.
 It will take from 4-8 weeks to receive a response to your request.

 The 9 items above are the same information you would provide if you
 went to apply for a social security number or a replacement card.
 Here's how the SSN system works (much simplified) - there are 2 major
 files: the numerical identification file which contains the
 information sorted by SSN; and the alphabetical identification file
 which is sorted by name. If an SSN is provided, the numerical file
 will be queried and the printout compared to the information you
 provided. If an SSN is unknown, the name file must be queried. The
 information you provide is compared to the information for each person
 with that name and a score is assigned based on which information
 matches or doesn't match, and how closely the information matches. For
 example, if the year of birth is within 5 years it will score lower
 than an exact match but higher than if they were 10 years apart.
 Possible SSNs will be identified based on the score. Someone must look
 at all the printouts for the possible SSNs to determine which record
 if any is the one you requested. The more information you provide, the
 more chance you have of getting the information you want. After all,
 there have been about 320 million SSNs assigned since Social Security
 began in 1937. SSA assigns about 500,000 new numbers each month.


              REQUEST FOR SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS INFORMATION

 Contact your local Social Security office and request form SSA-7050.
 Yearly totals of earnings will be provided free of charge. However,
 for genealogical purposes, you will want detailed earnings
 information. Detailed earnings information includes periods of
 employment or self-employment and the names and addresses of
 employers. A fee is charged for the detailed earnings information
 because you want it for purposes NOT directly related to Social
 Security. The fee chart is included on the form and varies, depending
 on the number of years for which you request information. The minimum
 fee is $15 for 1 year, and the maximum fee is $92 for 52 years. The
 fee can be waived if you show that giving the information to you will
 benefit the general public. You must attach an explanation of why the
 fee should be waived to the form. (If you are requesting your own
 earnings information, there is no fee if you have reason to believe
 that your record contains incorrect information. If this is the case,
 please contact your local office and discuss your problem with them.
 They will help you resolve any discrepancies in your earnings record.)
 
 You can request earnings information from the record of a deceased
 person if you are the legal representative of the estate, a survivor
 (spouse, parent, child), or an individual with a material interest who
 is an heir at law, next of kin, beneficiary under the will or donee of
 property of the decedent.  Proof of death must be included with your
 request. Proof of appointment as representative or proof of your
 relationship to the deceased must also be included.
 
 You may have to wait a while for the information. Once the employer
 identification numbers and years worked have been obtained from the
 master earnings file, someone will have to sit at a microfilm reader
 looking at employers' quarterly and annual wage reports to find the
 individual.


                     CONTACTING A MISSING PERSON

 Regulation No. 1 of the Social Security Act does not permit SSA to
 disclose information about the whereabouts of a missing person except
 as provided for the Parent Locator Service (service for locating a
 parent who has skipped out on child support payments). However,
 circumstances may arise when it would be proper to inform the missing
 person of information about which he would want to know. Where
 strongly compelling circumstances of this nature exist, SSA may
 forward a letter to him/her. The letter forwarding policy is
 restrictive because:

 1) the inquirer can be helped only if the addressee replies to the
    letter. It would serve little purpose to forward a letter to an
    individual unless it contains information that he/she could reasonably
    be expected to want to receive and which would cause him/her to reply.
    This excludes requests which are primarily for the benefit of the
    requester rather than the missing person.

 2) SSA does not want to burden employers. Most letters must be
    forwarded through the last employer of record. Some large employers
    have asked SSA not to send letters to the employees in care of the
    company.

 3) If all requests to forward letters were honored, the volume would
    significantly interfere with normal SSA operations.

 4) The addressee may consider receipt of the letter as an unwarranted
    invasion of his/her privacy.
 
 A letter will not be forwarded unless the following conditions are
 met:

 1) There are strongly compelling reasons for wanting to get in touch
    with the missing person such as: a close relative of the missing
    person is seriously ill, is dying or has died; a child is left without
    parental care because of the death or incapacity of the remaining
    parent; a defendant in a felony case is seeking a defense witness; a
    parent wishes to locate a missing son or daughter; the consent of the
    missing person is needed in connection with an adoption proceeding for
    his/her child; the missing person is the beneficiary of an estate and
    the executor is trying to locate him; other instances where the
    missing person is due money or valuable property; a doctor or hospital
    wishes to contact a missing person for health reasons.
 
 2) The missing person would want to know about the contents of the
    letter.

 3) The missing person's disappearance occurred far enough in the past
    that SSA could reasonably expect to have a usable mailing address
    (wages are reported by employers only once a year, so the most recent
    information SSA has will be at least a year old).

 4) All other possibilities for contacting the missing person have been
    exhausted.

 In order to forward a letter, SSA must have sufficient information to
 locate the missing person's record. The name and SSN are needed for
 this. The letter to be forwarded must be submitted in a plain
 unsealed, unstamped envelope bearing only the missing person's name
 and SSN. If the SSN is unknown, you must furnish as much identifying
 information as possible. The letter will be reviewed by SSA personnel
 to ensure that it is not inflammatory or derogatory, contains no
 obscene language, and will not cause embarrassment if opened by
 someone other that the addressee. SSA cannot be sure that the letter
 will reach the missing person or that he/she will reply. If SSA
 attempts to forward a letter, SSA cannot inform you of the results of
 that attempt. Subsequent letters for the same purpose will not be
 forwarded.
 
 No fee is charge for forwarding a letter for humanitarian purposes.
 The current charge for forwarding letters involving a monetary or
 valuable consideration is $3 per letter. Contact your local SSA office
 if you want to have a letter forwarded to a missing person.

 Please be aware that the situations described in these messages are
 not run of the mill requests that offices deal with all the time. The
 person you talk to may not be aware that disclosure of the information
 is allowed or may not be familiar with the procedures involved. In the
 9 years I spent working in various local offices, I received 2
 requests to forward letters to missing persons and no requests for
 detailed earnings information or for copies of Social Security number
 application forms. I was not aware until recently that you could get
 some of this information. If they refuse to give you the information,
 saying it isn't allowed, ask them to look it up in the manual. If all
 else fails, as a last resort, you can write to your congressman,
 describing your contacts with the local SSA office, and include a copy
 of your request. Congressional inquiries get special treatment, but
 the local offices don't like them.
 
 Anytime you have questions about Social Security issues, or need help
 with a Social Security matter, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE call your local
 office. You will get the best information from them. Please don't
 waste time speculating or asking neighbors or friends (unless they
 work for SSA). I can still remember being on the receiving end of "but
 my Uncle Joe says" or "so-and-so told me thus-and-so and he ought to
 know because" and not being able to convince them that Uncle Joe and
 so-and-so didn't know what they were talking about. The Social
 Security Law is quite complicated and encompasses much more than just
 retirement benefits. No one can know it all, but your local office is
 the place to get official information. That's what they are there for.
 End of sermon.
 
 Each office should have a copy of the Social Security Laws and
 Regulations and the POMS manual (operational instructions to implement
 the laws & regs). These manuals, except for portions related to
 security procedures, should be available for you to use at the local
 office. I would think that all law libraries would also have copies of
 the law and regs and possibly the operations manuals.


                  The Social Security Number
 
 SSA has continually emphasized the fact that the SSN
 identifies a particular record only and the Social Security
 Card indicates the person whose record is identified by that
 number. In no way can the Social Security Card identify the
 bearer. From 1946 to 1972 the legend "Not for Identification"
 was printed on the face of the card. However, many people
 ignored the message and the legend was eventually dropped.
 The social security number is the most widely used and
 carefully controlled number in the country, which makes it an
 attractive identifier.
 
 With the exception of the restrictions imposed on Federal and
 some State and local organizations by the Privacy Act of
 1974, organizations requiring a unique identifier for
 purposes of controlling their records are not prohibited from
 using (with the consent of the holder) the SSN. SSA records
 are confidential and knowledge of a person's SSN does not
 give the user access to information in SSA files which is
 confidential by law.
 
 Many commercial enterprises have used the SSN in various
 promotional efforts. These uses are not authorized by SSA,
 but SSA has no authority to prohibit such activities as most
 are not illegal. Some of these unauthorized uses are: SSN
 contests; skip-tracers; sale or distribution of plastic or
 metal cards; pocketbook numbers (the numbers used on sample
 social security cards in wallets); misleading advertising,
 commercial enterprises charging fees for SSN services;
 identification of personal property.

 The Social Security Number (SSN) is composed of 3 parts,
 XXX-XX-XXXX, called the Area, Group, and Serial.  For the most
 part, (there are exceptions), the Area is determined by where the
 individual APPLIED for the SSN (before 1972) or RESIDED at time
 of application (after 1972). The areas are assigned as follows:
 000     unused   387-399 WI    528-529 UT
 001-003 NH       400-407 KY    530     NV
 004-007 ME       408-415 TN    531-539 WA
 008-009 VT       416-424 AL    540-544 OR
 010-034 MA       425-428 MS    545-573 CA
 035-039 RI       429-432 AR    574     AK
 040-049 CT       433-439 LA    575-576 HI
 050-134 NY       440-448 OK    577-579 DC
 135-158 NJ       449-467 TX    580     VI Virgin Islands
 159-211 PA       468-477 MN    581-584 PR Puerto Rico
 212-220 MD       478-485 IA    585     NM
 221-222 DE       486-500 MO    586     PI Pacific Islands*
 223-231 VA       501-502 ND    587-588 MS
 232-236 WV       503-504 SD    589-595 FL
 237-246 NC       505-508 NE    596-599 PR Puerto Rico
 247-251 SC       509-515 KS    600-601 AZ
 252-260 GA       516-517 MT    602-626 CA
 261-267 FL       518-519 ID   *Guam, American Samoa,
 268-302 OH       520     WY    Northern Mariana Islands,
 303-317 IN       521-524 CO    Philippine Islands
 318-361 IL       525     NM
 362-386 MI       526-527 AZ
 
 627-699 unassigned, for future use
 700-728 Railroad workers through 1963, then discontinued
 729-899 unassigned, for future use
 900-999 not valid SSNs, but were used for program purposes
           when state aid to the aged, blind and disabled was
           converted to a federal program administered by SSA.
 
 As the Areas assigned to a locality are exhausted, new areas
 from the pool are assigned. This is why some states have non-
 contiguous groups of Areas.


 The Group portion of the SSN has no meaning other than to
 determine whether or not a number has been assigned. SSA
 publishes a list every month of the highest group assigned for
 each SSN Area.  The order of assignment for the Groups is: odd
 numbers under 10, even numbers over 9, even numbers under 9
 except for 00 which is never used, and odd numbers over 10. For
 example, if the highest group assigned for area 999 is 72, then
 we know that the number 999-04-1234 is an invalid number because
 even Groups under 9 have not yet been assigned.
 
 The Serial portion of the SSN has no meaning. The Serial is not
 assigned in strictly numerical order. The Serial 0000 is never
 assigned.
 
 Before 1973, Social Security Cards with pre-printed numbers were
 issued to each local SSA office. The numbers were assigned by the
 local office. In 1973, SSN assignment was automated and
 outstanding stocks of pre-printed cards were destroyed. All SSNs
 are now assigned by computer from headquarters. There are rare
 cases in which the computer system can be forced to accept a
 manual assignment such as a person refusing a number with 666 in
 it.
 
 A pamphlet entitled "The Social Security Number" (Pub. No.
 05-10633) provides an explanation of the SSN's structure and
 the method of assigning and validating Social Security numbers.

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