your medical diagnosis without having to visit "their" doctors.
My husband sent in his paperwork and within a month he got a notice saying "We have looked at your claim and agree you are disabled"
He got a check within the month.
A friend of mine filed and they disputed her claim and her Dr's diagnosis and she has to see a series of Drs approved by them. A year and a half later she is still waiting and fighting.

It gets harder to get approved after an initial denial. I ended up with a hearing and a five year battle. My husband was approved quickly. We understood the game by them and how to fill out the paperwork.

first, is it SSI or SSD? At what level were you approved -If it was by the Adm law judge processing is more complicated. What is your date of onset of disability and what is your date of entitlement. In other words, it can vary considerably from a week to several months.

It's SSD, approved at first level, date of disability 2/24/12, don't know the date of entitlement?

Thanks for the replies.

With an onset of 2/12/12, the waiting pd is 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and the date of entitlement will be 08/12. The 08/12 benefit is paid in 09/12, the exact date depending on the day of the month you were born. So you have to wait awhile. Some people are able to qualify for SSI in the interim if they have low income and resources otherwise. Did you also apply for SSI? If you did your local office s/b contacting you shortly to see about getting that started.

The check covering the arrears generally arrive about six weeks after the decision (If everything else goes without a hitch, i.e. no problem as to how much was paid in or what is the monthly amount). Most people get their first monthly check about two months after the decision. Given that today is July 17, 2012, my guess would be the 3rd of October (Social Security technically pays you at the "End" of the month, but that is generally the 3rd of the following month, thus August and September are the waiting months, and October 3rd is the month you get your first check.

I have seen it within a month, I have seen it take six months, but most follows the above.

I'm in a similar sounding boat as you. I applied and was approved based on a Mar 2012 date of disability and was told that after the 5 month waiting period I would see my first benefit in October. I was curious if my back pay for Apr-Aug would be included as a lump sum on that same direct deposit or if it would be broken up into installments. I saw that SSI is more often separated into installments but plain old disability is paid in a lump sum. I'm just worried that I'll be counting on a big payment in October only to find out that its dragging out even longer. I havent worked since March and we're coasting towards that first payment date on fumes. We've extended every bill we can and hopefully can hold on till then. A lump sum would be very groovy.

I applied in March, was approved in July and will get my Sept (5 month waiting period) in October. I will not be getting anything for the months of March-August. I was under the impression that I would get paid for those months, but I found out today that I will not. Oh well, I had already started spending the money in my head...that'll learn me. At least I'm getting a little something.

I'll have to re-evaluate to see if I can get my family by on the disability or weigh if I need to try to get back to work, illness be damned.