Both yesterday and today, I get an error upon trying to complete the final step to request a replacement SS card from https://www.ssa.gov/number-card/replace-card. I tried many times with the same result.
The process itself is a long-winded affair with multiple checks for identity and authentication (which was comforting despite being annoying), but the final click on the Submit button fails with:
ⓘ We’re sorry. We are experiencing technical difficulties.
We hope to have the issue resolved soon. Please try again later.
See screenshots below.
There’s no way to contact someone for help that I can find. Is this a side effect of the SSA staff being gutted? Anyone else have experience with this?
You have my sympathy. I experienced a problem that was impossible for me to resolve on line and I finally bit the bullet and spent hours at a SS office. Today that can only be worse and many offices are closed. I suspect you will end up there also.
My problem was my name on SS records was wrong. When I made my original application at age 16 in 1956, ( I did enter a , Jr. ) after my last name. I have scans /images of my original SS card. When I asked for a new card I got into a security Catch 22 with one of the credit agency security systems. (TransUnion I think). Since my birth certificate name did not match the name in the SS files the systems thought I was up to some criminal action and shut me out.
On the phone with an SSA rep for 40 minutes. They couldn’t solve the problem. Suggested all the usual browser stuff like try a different browser, make sure you’re not using a VPN, etc. I even made sure to completely disable all ad blockers and cleared out all the cookies for the SSA site (at my own suggestion, not theirs!). Same error. Even tried the Edge browser. Same error.
It’s definitely a problem on their end, but they say no one else has reported a problem. I find that hard to believe, unless requesting a replacement card is rarely done? Which I also find hard to believe.
I asked if the server side gets restarted over the weekend but she didn’t know.
As a final thought she suggested to try a different device (I have been using a Windows 11 laptop), and to try again in a few days. So, I’ll wait til Monday. I’ll also try it from my iPad.
But this error is definitely a server-side problem. I was in software dev and support for 32 years!
And it doesn’t work from an Android phone either: same error. Their system is clearly borked (I had tried to use different euphemism and it was blocked - what prudes). If it doesn’t work on Monday I give up.
Just out of curiosity, what do you need the card for?
For years I carried mine in my wallet. I finally filed it away where I (believe) I could find it if I needed it. I never have. Not for employers, nor for collecting SS. The number in my head has been sufficient.
This happened just before the Medicare people switched from using one’s SSN for the Medicare number. More than a few medical providers required the SSN so they could sell a person’s failure to pay to bill collectors. When Medcare went to alpha numeric IDs, medical providers no longer had a legal right to request/require a person’s SSN.
I was going through the online process to obtain an enhanced drivers license in NY and it kept saying the images of the SS card I had uploaded for “pre checking” were not of the original. It’s the only one I have and has my childhood signature on it from when I was 12 yo or so. I was trying to get an “official” one as a free replacement. Ultimately, I still would have to visit a local DMV but I wanted to expedite that process by pre-verifying everything. So much for that. As of my last update to the documents that were flagged as not original I have heard nothing for over a week. I was expecting an option to schedule the DMV appointment.
This fruitless exercise was prompted by some trepidation over the SAVE Act, but I probably needn’t worry: even in the unlikely case that it passes, AND isn’t struck down by the SCOTUS, I’ll still be eligible for mail-in voting due to infirmity.
For reference, here’s the front and back of my current old SS card - is this not an original official one?
Don’t bet everything. Lgeislatures created absentee voting and they can take it away.
With regard to your card - it does not look like my current card - got it 2020 +/- 3 years. It also does not match my 1956 card which actually has my name typed in. Amazing back them somebody had a job that included typing names into pre-printed SS cards.
I have that on my CT license. I have not memory of what I had to go through to get it there. When I renewed my passport I also got a passport card which I carry in my wallet as a second form of government ID.
