Ask Larry

At my full retirement age of 66, I applied for RRA benefits and was awarded $2170 mo. In 2017, at age 70 I contacted RRB and was told to apply for SSA benefits and was was awarded $2883 mo. I was working for the railroad in 1965 and got my draft notice in Sept or Oct. I resigned from the Santa Fe to wait for my enlistment date. I served for 3 years and about 5 mos and was discharged on May 19, 1969 on a Friday and went to work for the Southern Pacific the following Monday. I enrolled into college and when my GI bill kicked in, I resigned from the SP. Upon graduation, I returned to work for the Santa Fe in 1974 and continued working for until Aug 1983. According to the RRB rules I am fully vested because my railroad employment was interupted by my military service.

When I applied for the SSA benefit, the person who took my application said I would be able to claim both benefits. I just received a letter from the RRB saying that the Tier II benefits were being terminated and am just entitlied to $167 Tier I beginning on Dec 1st.

The letter says that I can appeal the reduction if I don't agree.

Please help. My original plan to sell my house and take my equity of about $100,000 and move to a less expensive house and state, but chose to remain and began remodeling my house, I need to have a new well drilled. With the reduction in Tier II, I cannot afford the house payment $1,450), well, complete the remodeling nor my 5 year old car. I will pretty quickly lose everything,

Thank you in advance....!
Robert

Hi Robert,

I'm not an expert on Railroad Retirement (RR), so I can only tell you my understanding of the rules that would apply in your situation.

Tier 1 RR benefits are essentially a substitute for Social Security (SS) benefits, and the RR uses SS earnings in the calculation of those benefits. Tier 2 RR benefits are based only on a person's RR service, and are more like a private company pension. If a person files for both RR and SS, they can only be paid the higher of a) their SS rate, or b) their Tier 1 RR rate, plus any Tier 2 RR benefits to which they are entitled.

So, based on my understanding, I would have thought that your Tier 2 RR rate would have been unaffected by your SS entitlement, and it would have been your Tier 1 rate that would have stopped or been reduced because of your SS entitlement (https://www.rrb.gov/RB17/For_use_with_survivor_annuity_applications/PartVII/SocialSecurityBenefits).

The bottom line is that I can't be sure whether or not your RR benefits have been adjusted correctly and can't advise you whether or not to file an appeal.

Best, Jerry