Question regarding SSI Approval, backpay and benefits

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Hey all, I was approved for my SSI yesterday at my hearing and was wondering: Will I receive backpay or my initial check first? My back is all the way from somewhere in 2012, don't have the exact date. My lawyer said to expect a couple of months for the backpay but does that apply for my other SSI benefits as well or will I start receiving them sooner?

You will begin to receive the monthly payment ($721) on the first of the month following your award letter. Since your benefits were awarded this month, you will receive your first monthly payment on Dec. 1, 2014. You will be contacted by the U.S. Social Security Administration office in your community by mail or telephone in the next week or two. They will require you to have a bank or credit-union account into which they will deposit your payments. You will also be required to give the SSA authority to monitor your account(s). If you don't already have an account, I recommend using a credit-union savings account with ATM card; it is allowed, but much less traceable because it will show only deposits and withdrawals, but not the details of how you spend the withdrawals.

You might also be contacted for the same account information for the deposit of your accrued benefits (back payments). They are usually deposited on the same day as your monthly payments in the month that your accrued benefits become due. Because your accrued benefits date from 2012, you will receive three accrued-benefits payments over the next 12 months (the first payment equal to three monthly payments, or $2,163, on about the same day as your first monthly payment; the second payment equal to three monthly payments, or $2,163, on about the same day as your seventh monthly payment; and the third and final payment equal to the remaining balance on about the same day as your 12th monthly payment.

Your lawyer will immediately be paid the full amount for legal services (equal to 25 percent of your total accrued benefits between the date that you applied and the date that your benefits were awarded to you). The lawyer's payment is automatically deducted from your accrued balance.

In other words, your payment schedule for the first year will look like this:

First monthly payment and first accrued-benefits payment to you; also the lawyer's payment to your lawyer
Second monthly payment to you
Third monthly payment to you
Fourth monthly payment to you
Fifth monthly payment to you
Sixth monthly payment to you
Seventh monthly payment and second accrued-benefits payment to you
Eighth monthly payment to you
Ninth monthly payment to you
10th monthly payment to you
11th monthly payment to you
12th monthly payment and final (remainder) accrued-benefits payment to you

The Schedule Of Social Security Benefit Payments 2015 http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2015.pdf shows next year's payment dates.

You will also qualify for Medicaid health care insurance. This takes effect in about three months and is available free of charge to you if you choose to apply for it. Depending on your state of residence, you will also qualify for a small amount (about $24 a month) of SNAP food benefits. This takes effect the month following your first benefits payment and is available if you choose to apply for it. Of course, you are also eligible for federal Section 8 housing-assistance benefits if you choose to apply for it. Depending on your state of residence, there are also education benefits if you choose to apply for it.

You should start a list of debts you owe to others, and/or purchases you would like to make for the things you have gone without since you applied for benefits. The final accrued-benefits payment can be several thousands of dollars and, unless you have decided in advance to spend it wisely, can quickly get spent on useless things and stuff. Of course, it is your privilege to spend the extra benefits as you choose. But, I found it best to plan ahead. Also, if you accumulate more than two months of benefits, the excess amount may be garnished by those to whom you owe debts. And, if you accumulate more than three months of benefits (or nine months of accrued benefits), the excess amount may count against your future benefits. This suggests that you must buy certains things every month and avoid accumulating too much available cash.

You may earn or be given certain things and small amounts of cash http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssi/text-income-ussi.htm according to SSA guidelines before such income is counted against you. For some strange reason, you may not receive cash gift cards or other items which can be used as cash. But, I don't know how that would be tracked.

Certain other assets http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssi/text- ... s-ussi.htm may also be counted against your monthly benefits. If you own a motor vehicle that could be sold for more than $5,000 or other assets that may be sold for a total of $2,000 or more (excluding clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, BluRay disks, disk players, television and audio equipment, telephones, magazines, vacations, travel, collections of historical or interesting items, and other such personal items), your monthly benefits may be reduced. This suggests that you should request or recommend family and friends giving you birthday and holiday gifts of the excluded items, as those won't count against you.

If you have any questions, just ask. Otherwise, good luck.

Thank you VERY much, Utah. The only weird thing is that my lawyer said to expect money in Feb but he was very vague and we really didn't get to talk a whole lot before leaving. All that information offered is excellent, do you mind if I PM you with some more questions?

Hm. That is strange to say that your first payment(s) would start in February. But, maybe the SSA has new rules. Of course, you may PM me about anything.

He said it was because the holiday season was coming up and everyone would be really busy. My lawyer does have a tendency to try to sound more negative though.

True, but my first payment was in December 2013, and while they were a little slow about my financial conversation with them (it took about a week, not a day or two), we still got everything in order quickly.

Last edited by AspieUtah on 07 Nov 2014, 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wait, wait, wait.....

This thread is entitled SSI (SUPPLEMENTAL income). I didn't experience anything like what David is talking about. I didn't get any "back-pay" with SSI, and you get your money the next month (depending on in what section of the month you got awarded----and I got nowhere NEAR 700+ dollars). SSI DOES care if you have a car, or any other assets.

ORRRRR.....

Did you mean ssDi? (SSDI - Disability)? If so, I STILL didn't experience anything like what David described. First of all, I get way more than 700 and whatever dollars a month (for some reason the "Topic Review" didn't load so I can't look at previous posts), and I know people who get waaaaaaay more than me. Your monthly payment depends on how many years you worked, and what your salary was. You do NOT get MediCAID, you get MediCARE, and it is NOT "free"----they take it out of your monthly amount, and then you have to pay 20 percent of the medical bill out of your own pocket. I've never heard anything about SSDI caring that you have a car, or any other assets.

SSDI recipients are eligible for Medicare. SSI recipients are eligible for Medicaid.

The SSI maximum is currently $721.00 a month. The SSDI maximum depends on need and can be a few thousand dollars a month.

Yes, maximum SSI----but, that means you could get alot LESS, as I did. Also, I don't know that SSDI depends on your need----like I said, it depends on how many years you've worked, and what your pay was.

Hey AspieUtah, I just have one more question: How is in-kind income calculated? I live in a rented house (pay is about 1k per month) with my mom, dad, sister and grandma. My dad pays all the rent with his disability (he's disabled) and no one else is employed. I receive foodstamps. Do you know how much this would calculate into the in-kind income subtracted from the total SSI? I don't receive any other benefits or money from the government and haven't had a job.

Thank you so much. I've tried googling info but can't find anything about how foodstamps would factor into my SSI monthly pay.

I amn't sure whether you are investigating the in-kind income from the household rent or the food stamps, so I will try to answer both. If you choose not to pay your parents rent for your residence, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) will deduct from your monthly benefits payment an amount equivalent to what your rent would be. In this case, it would be best to argue for the pro-rata method of determining household expenses (so, one-fifth of the rent; but, remember that utilities are included in the pro-rata method, so, if your portion of the rent includes all utilities, you are good to go, if not, you will need to include one-fifth of the cost of monthly utilities). SSA will try to argue that you should have market-value rent deducted from your monthly benefits payment, but that is almost always more than then pro-rata method. Which method you use is your choice, not theirs. I would recommend that you pay your parents the pro-rata rent and utilities amount instead of letting SSA deduct it from your monthly benefits payment. Do this because keeping the money within your family helps everyone whereas allowing a deduction loses that money forever. This is all legal, and it is your choice, of course, but you are allowed and encouraged to pay your parents which gives your entire household more cash on hand. However, if your father is also disabled and receives benefits, paying him your rent would jeopardize some of his benefits, so allowing your deduction would make sense. If I were you, I would compare which method makes sense for you and your family.

As for your SNAP food benefits, they are not counted as in-kind income unless your father is sharing his food benefits with you, in which case, you would need to report that and have another deduction taken from your benefits.

I know that this sounds very backward after you have been awarded such a small amount to work with anyway, but it is the requirement of our federal laws. One way to isolate your benefits from others, like your father, is to claim your own household as being seperate from his. This would require you to pay all your bills (seperate rent including utilities, and food) without help from others, but would also protect your benefits. Again, compare which method makes sense for you and your family.

Good luck!

My lawyer never discussed any of this with me, I'm going to assume that when social security does contact me this will be discussed and I'll get to pick either method? As of right now no one has asked me if I want to pay toward the rent (which I do)obviously I never had money before because I was just applying for SSI.

Again, thanks AspieUtah. I'm sorry for swamping you with questions. Your knowledge has been such a boon to my family, we've had so many questions and you've answered each one super detailed. I appreciate it so much.

Last edited by NeueZiel on 15 Nov 2014, 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, when your local SSA office contacts you about your first payment, they will discuss your rent and utilities, and any other ongoing monthly bills that you might have. They ask about these things because they need to determine whether they should deduct anything from your payment. So, you will want to have a pretty good idea of what options you have and which rent/utilities methods you would prefer using.

I have no problem with your questions. Hey, it took me 12 years to figure it out for myself, I am happy to share what I learned.