Step 1: confirm the date
Look up your scheduled date on the home page lookup tool. The most common cause of "missing" payments is that the recipient was expecting the deposit on the wrong day.
Step 2: wait three business days
SSA's official guidance is to wait three full business days after the scheduled date before reporting a missing direct deposit. The most common cause is a delay at your bank.
Step 3: call your bank first
Ask your bank to look for any pending ACH credits from "U.S. Treasury 310" or "SSA TREAS 310" in the last 5 business days. Nine times out of ten, the deposit was posted to a slightly different account or held briefly for fraud review.
Step 4: open an SSA tracer
Call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), Monday–Friday 8 AM to 7 PM local. Have your SSN, expected deposit amount, bank routing/account numbers, and expected date ready. Most tracers resolve within 5 business days.
Step 5: paper check workflow
For paper checks, wait at least 5 business days before reporting. SSA places a stop-payment on the original check and reissues a replacement within 10 business days. If the original arrives later, return it uncashed.