Guide for Organizational Representative Payees

Best Practices

You may benefit from the "best practices" organizational representative payees around the nation have shared with us and that are listed below:

• Maintain a line of communication with your local Social Security office.

• Some representative payees have negotiated arrangements with local merchants to purchase goods such as food, clothing or household furnishings. The beneficiary can select his or her items and buy them with a pre-approved credit voucher, or after the merchant verifies the purchase with the representative payee. Alcohol is excluded from these arrangements and anything else that may be detrimental to the beneficiary’s health or welfare.

• Representative payees have negotiated with financial institutions to provide checking accounts with no or minimal service charges. Sometimes the monthly fees are waived in lieu of paying interest. Currently, in light of low interest rates, this might be the better deal. An organization with a substantial number of beneficiaries may be able to get a more favorable group rate.

• Some organizations flag the financial accounts of SSI beneficiaries when conserved funds reach $1,500. This serves as an alert to assess the personal needs of the beneficiary and maintain countable resources below the $2,000 limit by meeting these needs. Remember, you must report to SSA if the SSI beneficiary’s countable resources exceed $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple.

• Some organizations have found it helpful to have a written contract stating the terms of their relationship with the beneficiary. We include a sample contract that organizations and agencies can adapt to their own needs.

• Some Social Security offices have found it helpful to have a locally produced “Representative Payee Reporting Form” that the organizational payees in their service areas complete and fax back. A sample is included at Representative Payee Reporting Form.

• Items such as TVs, radios and computers should be engraved with the beneficiary’s name.

• Develop internal procedures and guidelines governing how your organization manages beneficiary funds and make sure that your employees follow them.

• Instead of disbursing spending money by check or cash, some payees use gift cards or debit cards from a retail store.

• Some payees report beneficiary changes by fax to their local SSA office, instead of reporting by phone or mail.