This week, it’s officially Christmas. We’re all running around like headless chickens, getting the last details ready: Christmas dinners, family and friends gatherings, the endless list of gifts we’re going to receive or give. That’s why many Social Security beneficiaries are eagerly awaiting their last check of the year. The Social Security Administration. It will soon begin distributing its last big round of payments for December 2025.
Since there are a lot of holidays this December, the schedule for sending benefits and pensions has been a little out of the ordinary.
If you are one of those whose birthday is at the end of the month, you are probably still waiting for your December check. We’ll tell you everything and more here.
Last SSA payment in 2025
It always seems like a very complex benefit payment system, but in reality it is only based on the date on which SSA beneficiaries were born. It makes sense: if pension checks were sent to all retirees on the first day of the month, banks would be overwhelmed and would collapse 12 times a year. That’s why benefit checks are sent out in stages, since they don’t want to financially block the entire country every four weeks. The day of birth was chosen because it is completely arbitrary and does not discriminate based on gender, age, or any other factor. The day you receive your pension — or sometimes disability assistance — depends solely on the day you were born.
This system is informally called the “rule of three Wednesdays,” and it helps distribute the flow of money throughout the month so as not to overwhelm the banks. Depending on the day we were born (or at least the date on our driver’s license), we will receive our pension on a Wednesday. This pension currently has a maximum cap of $5,108, although this will change with the COLA in 2026.
Getting back to the topic at hand, if you were born between the 21st and 31st, you will receive your Social Security money on Wednesday, December 24. The rest of the beneficiaries received theirs on previous Wednesdays. Despite being Christmas Eve, the 24th of this month is not a national holiday, so banks are still operating and processing direct deposits—at least on a reduced schedule.
However, for the group of retirees who began receiving benefits before May 1997 (almost 30 years ago!), SSI payments were already sent on December 3 (which also fell on a Wednesday), so this schedule does not affect you.
And on the first day of January 2026 (i.e., New Year’s Day), banks will not be open because it is a national holiday, so the Social Security agency will send beneficiaries their January pension the day before, on Wednesday, December 31, 2025. So remember that if you receive this Social Security check on the last day of the year, it is not a random gift, but rather your pension sent to you one day before the start of January. Happy 2026!
FAQs
Who will get their SSA benefits on December 24?
The SSA will send their pension to those whose birthday falls the 21st and the 31st of the month. It’s a coincidence it will be sent out on Christmas Eve.
Will banks be able to process the deposit?
Yes. Despite Being Christmas Eve, it’s not an official national holiday, so banks will be operating normally and will be able tom process the benefits.
Why do some people get paid earlier in the month?
While the SSA has the work power to send out all benefits at once, it would overflow the financial system. The SSA sends millions of benefits every month, so they decided to stagger the payments to ensure a steady flow instead of provoking a monthly bank bottle-neck!