The Office of Personnel Management is providing information to federal employees who may be impacted by the Service Credit System.
Service Credit is a program that allows employees to make payments into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) for periods of service during in which they either did not contribute to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (i.e., deposit service), or for which they received a refund of their retirement contributions (i.e., redeposit service). In some cases, an employee may make service credit deposits or redeposits, which include both principal and interest, to maximize the benefits he or she will receive upon retirement. (See “Deposit Service” And Your Federal Employee Retirement)
Here is the information provided by the Office of Personnel Management on its corrections to the Service Credit System and what you can expect from the agency in the near future.
Q & A’s for Service Credit System
Status
1. Why am I receiving a letter now?
The Service Credit System corrections are now complete and OPM is providing your current account balance information now to minimize the additional impact of interest accruing. The letter also tells you about the grace period so you about can maximize the flexibility of paying down your current account balance without even more interest accruing.
Payments
2. When will I receive my next statement?
If your account was affected by the data fix or if you have made payments for which you have not received a receipt, we are sending you a letter along with an updated statement current through December 2010. Otherwise, we are resuming our routine process of sending out statements upon receiving a payment.
3. How do I make payments on my Service Credit Account?
You may make payments by sending a check made out to Office of Personnel Management and mailing it to U.S Office of Personnel Management, P.O. Box 979035, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000. Be sure to include your name, date of birth, and CSD Claim Number. You can also make payments online at www.pay.gov.
4. I would like to have payments taken out of my checking or savings account to pay my Service Credit Account, what do I need to do?
Download OPM form RI 16-28[228 KB], “Authorization for Direct Payments”, at www.opm.gov. Enter RI 16-28 in the search box. Complete the form (make sure to mark the New Enrollment box) and mail it to U.S Office of Personnel Management, P.O. Box 979035, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000.
5. How do I stop the payments being taken out of my checking or savings account to pay my Service Credit Account?
Download OPM form RI 16-28[228 KB], “Authorization for Direct Payments”, at www.opm.gov. Enter RI 16-28 in the search box. Complete the form (make sure to mark the Discontinue Pre-Authorized Direct Payment Service box) and mail it to U.S Office of Personnel Management, P.O. Box 979035, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000.
6. I would like to change the order in which my payments are applied. Who do I contact?
You may make an email request to screceipts@opm.gov and a response will be returned to you by email. Be sure to include your name, date of birth, and CSD Claim Number.
New Applications
7. I filled out an application to make Deposit or Redeposit and mailed it to OPM, but I have not received a response.
OPM’s Retirement Operations Center in Boyers, PA, processes applications for Service Credit. You can send an email request to scbillings@opm.gov and a response will be returned by email. Be sure to include your name and date of birth.
Military Service
8. How can I get a receipt for my Military Deposit or I would like to find out information on my Military Deposit.
OPM does not compute or collect deposits for military service performed after 1956.
If you are a current Federal employee, you need to contact your local servicing personnel office to obtain information about the status of your military deposit or about how to make a military deposit.
If you are a separated Federal employee, your former employing agency should have transferred your military deposit record to OPM. You can obtain a copy of the record by sending an email to retire@opm.gov. Be sure to include your name and date of birth.