How many of you have sent in a request to find out how much money you owe to get credit for some civilian time where you didn’t have retirement deductions taken from your paycheck or to redeposit retirement contributions you took out when you left government for awhile? I thought so. Lots.
And if I’m right, quite a few of you got an answer from OPM, thought about what to do, and then stuck the paper in a drawer. Of course, the next time you thought about it, you realized that you’d have to get a new statement because the old one was out of date and you would now owe more. That’s what accumulating interest will do to you.
In the past, you would either have had to make an initial deposit to get an update or fill out the paperwork again and wait until OPM got around to sending you an answer. No more. OPM has a new service that will allow those of you who have already gotten a service credit statement to update it by calling OPM’s toll free number, 888-767-6738. With one click of the mouse, a Customer Service Representative can instantly provide the amount owed, including accrued interest, and generate a statement that can be mailed to you. All you need to give them to get that is the CSD (Civil Service Deposit) number on your original statement. Alternatively, you can send an e-mail to retire@opm.gov with the words “deposit inquiry” in the subject line and your CSD number in the body of the e-mail.
If you have not done the necessary paperwork to get a statement of how much you owe, you’ll need to do that. Just complete the standard form 2803 (CSRS) or 3108 (FERS). Both of these forms are available on OPM’s website at www.opm.gov/forms/html/sf.asp.
Once you have a statement, you can take it to your personnel office and ask one of the benefits officers to let you know what the impact on your retirement benefits would be of paying or not paying a deposit. Then you’ll need to decide if the amount you’d need to pay will be offset by the increased annuity you’d receive over time.
