What should I do if I can't access my Social Security benefits account from abroad?

The Social Security website has been broken to me for two years.

For two years it's been saying I'm in the process of applying for benefits when I haven't been. Because of this, I couldn't access any of the features, including actually applying for benefits.

I wrote to the Manila Social Security office over 40 times about this problem starting in 2024. I called the Baltimore SS office who listened to me for all of 30 seconds, didn't even check my file and told me "It takes time". This was about the 1 year mark.

I sent a follow up certified letter and included screen shots and another description of my problem. It cost me 100 USD. It was received but still nothing happened.

The 1-800 number is useless. The guy just confirmed my problem after a 45 minute wait, said he could do nothing about it and said I'd have to make a personal trip to the local office. When I said the local office was in another country, 1375 miles away his response was "well, maybe that's the price you pay for living overseas".

I kept writing Manila bc I had no where else to turn.

A week ago, they tell me the entire SS website has been farmed out to a third party and I'll have to contact them. In case you missed this, that's your website too.

Since I hadn't tried for awhile, I thought maybe this third party had improved things.

Now when I try to log in, it doesn't work at all.

Manila told me I had to write to them and submit a ticket, I log in to their system, which promptly crashes once I complete the ticket.

Let me be clear, the system I'm trying to report a log in error won't let me submit the error ticket without an error.

This happens on multiple computers and browsers. I was able to us ID.me and the system up until 2024. Same system, no new programs.

The embassy in Bangkok is supposed to help Americans but they don't do any Social Security, they just shuffle you back to Manila, who does nothing.

I know people will say "Works for me!". Great, it worked for me too until it didn't.