Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an effort to limit fraudulent claims, the Social Security Administration will impose tighter identity-proofing measures — which will require millions of recipients and applicants to visit agency field offices rather than interact with the agency over the phone.

Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency's “my Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.

The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.

Retiree advocates warn that the change will negatively impact older Americans in rural areas, including those with disabilities, mobility limitations, those who live far from SSA offices and have limited internet access.

The plan also comes as the agency plans to shutter dozens of Social Security offices throughout the country and has already laid out plans to lay off thousands of workers.

In addition to the identity verification change, the agency announced that it plans to expedite processing of recipients’ direct deposit change requests – both in person and online – to one business day. Previously, online direct deposit changes were held for 30 days.

“The Social Security Administration is losing over $100 million a year in direct deposit fraud,” Leland Dudek, the agency’s acting commissioner, said on a Tuesday evening call with reporters — his first call with the media. “Social Security can better protect Americans while expediting service.”

He said a problem with eliminating fraudulent claims is that “the information that we use through knowledge-based authentication is already in the public domain.”

“This is a common sense measure,” Dudek added.

More than 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive retirement and disability benefits through the Social Security Administration.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that “by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system.”

The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. However, Dudek downplayed the impact of its offices shuttering, saying many were small remote hearing sites that served few members of the public.

Many Americans have been concerned that SSA office closures and massive layoffs of federal workers — part of an effort by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the size of the federal government — will make getting benefits even more difficult.

Musk has pushed debunked theories about Social Security and described the federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, and called it a “Ponzi scheme” suggesting the program will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending.

Voters have flooded town halls across the country to question Republican lawmakers about the Trump administration’s cuts, including its plans for the old-age benefits program.

In addition a group of labor unions last week sued and asked a federal court for an emergency order to stop DOGE from accessing the sensitive Social Security data of millions of Americans.

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Demonstrators gather outside of the Edward A. Garmatz United States District Courthouse in Baltimore, on Friday, March 14, 2025, before a hearing regarding the Department of Government Efficiency's access to Social Security data. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in February as easing mortgage rates and more properties on the market encouraged home shoppers.

Existing home sales rose 4.2% last month from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Sales fell 1.2% compared with February last year, ending a string of five straight annual increases. The latest home sales topped the 3.92 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. On an unadjusted basis, sales fell 5.2% from February last year, when the month included an extra day because 2024 was a leap year.

Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 20th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 3.8% in February from a year earlier to $398,400, an all-time high for the month of February. All told, the U.S. median home sales price is up 47% over the last five years.

“Home buyers are slowly entering the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Mortgage rates have not changed much, but more inventory and choices are releasing pent-up housing demand.”

The U.S. housing sales began to slump in 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

While the average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly fell to a 2-year low last September, it didn’t stay there long, climbing to just above 7% by mid-January. Mortgage rates mostly declined since then, sliding to an average of 6.76% by the last week of February. The rate averaged 6.67% this week, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

That’s more than double the 2.65% record low that the average rate reached a little over four years ago.

A lag of a month or two usually exists between when a contract is signed and when the home sale is finalized, so the recent pullback in rates may point to improved sales this month as the spring homebuying season gets going.

Still, Yun said a survey of NAR member real estate agents showed that buyer traffic was down in February from a year earlier, while seller traffic was up.

”(The) market clearly needs lower interest rates to fundamentally lift it a little higher on a sustained basis,” Yun said.

Rising home prices and elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have frozen out many would-be homebuyers and discouraged homeowners who locked in ultra-low mortgage rates a few years ago from selling.

These trends have made it especially tough on first-time buyers, as they don’t have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase.

Even so, they accounted for 31% of all homes sold last month, up from 28% in January and 26% in February last year. The annual share of first-time buyers fell last year to a record-low 24%. It’s been 40% historically.

Homebuyers who paid all cash for a home accounted for 32% of sales last month, up from 29% in January, NAR said.

Those who can afford to buy at current home loan rates or to sidestep them entirely by paying cash also stand to benefit from a wider selection of properties on the market.

There were 1.24 million unsold homes at the end of last month, up 5.1% from January and up 17% from February last year, NAR said.

That translates to a 3.5-month supply at the current sales pace, unchanged from January and up from a 3-month pace at the end of February last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Yun said the months’ supply shows the housing market remains tight, adding he would like to see 30% more homes for sale for the market to be more balanced between buyers and sellers.

“In the spring and summer months, we will have more inventory,” he said.

One reason the inventory of homes for sale has been rising is properties are taking longer to sell.

Homes typically remained on the market for 42 days last month before selling, up from 41 days in January and 38 days in February last year, NAR said.

FILE - A for sale sign stands outside a single-family home Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Englewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)