Yay! You’ve made it! (Or you’re reading ahead to see what we have to say about getting benefits.) Take a deep breath, appreciate how far you’ve come and what a badass (albeit a mess at times) you are! Now, unfortunately, your work is not done, but you can definitely take a nice long break, and maybe even treat yourself to some goodies with your first backpay or monthly benefit. Here are some post-approval tips, tricks, and trades about what to do now, what to do with your money, and how to keep your case viable for benefit renewal (usually 3 years, but maybe less or more).
Monthly Benefits/Backpay
Resource Limits
Income Reporting
Investments/Savings
CDR Review
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Monthly Benefit Payments
Your first monthly payment usually comes in anywhere between a few weeks to a few months. Ɣ’s first monthly came in about 3 months after his court date where he was approved, or about 2.5 months after his letter came in the mail. Weirdly enough, his first backpay chunk came in a week before that first monthly came in. The timing with all of this can vary, so do your best to plan for any variation.
Backpay
Backpay is the amount of money you get in usually 3 lump sums after you get approved for SSI/SSDI - SSA notes that while applying you were in need and therefore eligible for benefits, so they calculate the months from first application until your first benefit payment after approval, and multiply it by how much your benefits would have been. ie, it took you 16 months until you got SSI, so your backpay would be around $12,000. You’ll get this paid directly into your bank account over 18 months, ie every 6 months, and usually in smaller chunks (around $2,250) the first two times with the remainder coming in at the end. Also, lawyer’s fees, if you have any, are usually deducted from the backpay, either from the first, second, or last chunk. Sometimes your lawyers will notify you (like Ɣ’s did) that they had not been paid, in which case you’ll have to call SSA and pester them.
Resource Limits
For SSDI, there is no limit for resources or unearned income.
For SSI, however, in order to be eligible for (and continue to be eligible/receive) SSI benefits, you must meet a resource limit. You cannot have more than $2,000 (single people) or $3,000 (married couples). ABLE Savings accounts are exempt from this resource limit, and you can save up to $100K in one of those (see the "Investments/Savings" tab above).
Backpay
In the case of backpay timelines, the SSA allows you to have your backpay in your bank account for 9 months after you receive it. I guess they figure it'll take some time to move your money, pay back loans and debts, etc.. After that, I am not sure what they do, how and if they would check back in on your bank statements, but that should be ample time to find other places for those funds. When Ɣ first got his backpay, he freaked out about it being in his bank account, knowing that he'd become ineligible if he had more than $2,000 in there. So he called the SSA and got the info from them that they don't count that money as a resource for some time. So after his last backpay chunk came in, he realized he had a total of 27 months (9 months after the last chunk, which was 18 months after initial approval) to have more money in his bank account than ever before. It sure was a relief.
This is a savings account for disabled folks who were documented with an eligible disability under the age of 26 (you do not have to be under 26 to open one of these). Many states have these and you can evenopen one in a state other than where you base out of, and they are very easy to open. Make sure to have your doctor sign a verification form in case the ABLE account bank company wishes to see verification of eligibility.
This savings account will match what you put in to the savings 3:1; ie you put in $1,000 over the span of 18 months, they will match yours with 3 times as much, giving you a total of $4,000. There are restrictions as to what you can use the fund for - ie buying a home, paying for school, or starting a business. Note, I’m pretty sure these are only for folks who are earning an income, so SSI income alone will not qualify.
This is the timeline or period after which your SSDI or SSI case will need to be reviewed and redetermined whether or not your benefits will continue. Most common is a 3 year review period. Sometimes, they can be as long as 5-7, usually depending on age and the prognosis of your disabilities. If someone is older, and/or has a poor prognosis of improvement or it will end in death, they usually get a longer time between CDRs.
CDR Frequency
Ɣ has his CDR set for 3 years after his initial approval. This seems like a good amount of time to relax, but it’s important to keep up on your doctor’s visits and keep your diagnoses fresh, whether they change or stay the same.
If you feel that you do not need benefits in the long run, that is great! But if you are unsure as to whether you will be able to financially support yourself through work with your conditions, it might be best to prepare your case for your next CDR.