Ask Our Experts
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2004-05-07 15:00:00-04:00
The AARP Bulletin's Ask Our Experts column provides answers to important questions affecting older Americans. Read below for this month's column, or review our archive of previously published questions and answers sorted by topic. (Note: Recent news or changes to regulations may affect the guidance offered in this previously published column.)
Submit your own question to the Ask Our Experts column via our easy-to-use online form.
Q. I was married for 10 years and am now divorced. My ex-husband has remarried and divorced again. Will I be eligible to collect on his Social Security benefits, or will his second ex-wife be eligible?
To qualify for a divorced spouse's benefits, you must be unmarried and at least 62 years old at the time you file for them. You also must have been married to your former spouse for at least 10 years. It doesn't matter that he has remarried and been divorced.
He, by the way, must also be at least age 62 and either eligible for or receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits.
You should be aware that benefits paid before you have reached full retirement age are reduced based on what your age is at the time you receive benefits. Also, the amount to which you are entitled based on your years of work must be less than half the amount your former spouse is entitled to.
If you want to get an estimate of your benefits as a divorced spouse, call the Social Security Administration at (800) 772-1213. The representative may be able to tell you over the phone or may refer your request to a local field office. Or you can visit your local office. Call the toll-free number or use the SSA website's Office Locator to find the nearest location.—Expertise provided by Laurel Beedon
Q. When will I be able to get a free credit report as required by the U.S. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act that became law last December?
The act, which entitles everyone to a free credit report once a year from all three major credit reporting agencies, will begin to take effect in December. But not everyone will be eligible at the same time. The new measure will be rolled out over a period of time to prevent the credit reporting agencies from being flooded with requests all at once.
Under a Federal Trade Commission proposal expected to be made final in June, consumers in the West—including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington—could request free credit reports starting Dec. 1. Midwesterners would become eligible on May 1, 2005. Most Southerners could begin making requests on June 1, 2005, and people in the East, from North Carolina to New England, could request reports starting Sept. 1, 2005.
Q. I recently got a new mortgage that was then sold to another lender. Will this have any impact on me? Will the interest rate stay the same?
Few lenders hold on to an original loan. Most sell them on the secondary market within days or months of the initial loan so they can get cash to make more loans.
When a lender sells a mortgage, the terms of the loan should not change for the borrower as long as all payments are made on time.—Expertise provided by Sally Hurme
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