Posted on Friday, 20th January 2012 by

Print This Post Print This Post
Share

We received a question from a federal employee concerning credit for temporary service. Linda was hired as a temporary employee in 1985 and two years later she was hired full time. Last April she bought back her two years of temporary service and her SCD has not changed on her Employee Express Benefits Statement. She did receive a confirmation from OPM after submitting the SF-2803 form and she wanted to verify when the 2 years of temporary service will be included in her SCD date.

When you make a deposit for temporary service it is made directly to OPM and OPM notifies you when the deposit is complete. This bypasses the HR office. Once you supply the HR office with documentation from OPM that the deposit is complete, your HR office should update your Retirement SCD… if the deposit affected your retirement eligibility. Make sure you keep a copy of the OPM letter to submit with your retirement application when you retire.

Depending on your service history/retirement system, the service may have already been credited toward your service history.  If the service was creditable towards eligibility without the deposit, then the deposit only increases the amount of the annuity (not your years of eligible service). This shouldn’t alter your Leave SCD that appears on your SF-50.

Check on the Employee Express site.  Many benefit statements are only updated once a year.  Your HR office can tell you if your Retirement SCD has been updated to include the service

2012 Changes & Updates

  • FEGLI Rate Changes. New rates were posted for employees and annuitants starting this year. Not all rates increased, Option B rates decreases for all age bands below age 75 and Option C rates for those below age 45 decreased while premiums for anyone over age 45 increased. Annuitant’s premiums for Basic coverage increased for the 50 percent and no reduction options.
  • Savings Bonds. For the first time since 1936 paper savings bonds can no longer be purchased from your local bank or credit union. Savings bonds are now only available in book entry format online through Treasury Direct. Book entry simply means that you do not receive a paper bond and your purchases are listed online in your account. If you are having difficulty accessing your Treasury Direct account read my article titled Treasury Direct Login Help for assistance. I Bond yields are currently 3.06%, a much higher rate and any CD that you can purchase today. My article titled When CDs Come Due Earn Higher Yields discusses I Bonds and ways to earn higher yields on your savings.
  • Social Security Direct Deposit. When signing up for Social Security this year you must arrange for direct deposit of your payments. All paper checks for beneficiaries will be phased out by 2013. It costs the government a dollar per check and they are still sending out over 120 million checks a year.
  • Paper Check Delivery. The postal service plans to close half of its 487 processing centers this year.  This could delay receipt of paper checks by a day or two. Retirees that receive their annuity and social security checks by mail may wish to consider direct deposit. Typically direct deposit is faster and you don’t risk someone stealing a paper check from your mail box.
  • 2012 COLA. We announced this previously but it bears repeating again. COLAs resume after a two year absence for federal annuitants and Social Security, 3.6% for CSRS and 2.6% for those in the FERS system.

Recent Forum Host Articles:

Learn more about your benefits, employment, and financial planning issues on our site and visit our Blog frequently at  https://fedretire.net to read all forum articles.

Request a FREE Retirement Benefits Summary & Analysis from a local adviser. A sample analysis is available for your review. Includes projected annuity payments, income verses expenses, FEGLI, and TSP projections. This service is not affiliated with www.federalretirement.net.

Visit our other informative sites

The information provided may not cover all aspect of unique or special circumstances, federal regulations, and financial information is subject to change. To ensure the accuracy of this information, contact your benefits coordinator and ask them to review your official personnel file and circumstances concerning this issue. Retirees can contact the OPM retirement center. Our article is not intended nor should it be considered investment advice. Our articles and replies are time sensitive. Over time, various dynamic economic factors relied upon as a basis for this article may change.

Last 5 posts by Dennis Damp

Posted in ANNUITIES / ELIGIBILITY, BENEFITS / INSURANCE, ESTATE PLANNING, FINANCE / TIP, LIFESTYLE / TRAVEL, RETIREMENT CONCERNS, SOCIAL SECURITY / MEDICARE, SURVIVOR INFORMATION | Comments (0)


Print This Post Print This Post