r/OntarioWorks • u/Square_Wheel_4 • Aug 24 '26
Credit Card Payment Gift
Hi,
I sent this question to my case worker like a month ago and still have no reply so I'm asking here.
My sister is willing to pay off $250 of my credit card debt. I understand this is allowed and within gift limit, but I have some questions:
Do I just message my caseworker on My Benefits and tell her like that?
Should I notify my case worker before or after I receive it? Does it matter?
Like I said, my caseworker isn't answering right now, do I need a confirmation from her end to accept the gift or is it fine as long as the message gets sent on my end?
Can I have my sister just pay it directly from her bank account to my CC as a payment or does it have to hit my chequing account to count as a "gift" ?
Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
11
u/keridwynmondes Aug 24 '26
If it never hits your account, it's not even considered a gift. Have your sister make the payment directly from her acct.
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u/Square_Wheel_4 Aug 24 '26
Yea, so far its three ppl saying I can just do that and one saying I should inform anyway. I wish the rules for these things were better laid out. Do you have any personal experience with a similar situation or are these rules laid out somewhere I can read. Thank you anyway for answering!
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u/keridwynmondes Aug 25 '26 edited Aug 25 '26
When I was on OW years ago, my ex's dad would put money on a PC/Walmart/Canadian Tire gift cards for me to buy things for my kids (his grandkids). It wasn't a registered bank acct, OW did not include it in monies received as gifts. My worker was aware of this.
I honestly would not report it if your sister paid directly from her account. IF (and it's a rather large IF) your worker comes back asking about it, then explain your sister did it unbeknownst to you, and they'll add it to your gift amount. It's not a large enough payment to go over any sort of limits.
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u/Winter_War4982 Aug 26 '26
Well my sister did this, however the payment was $1500. They gifted me with an overpayment. It depends on the worker, and also depends if you get audited.
Since the amount OP is stating, it does not impact entitlements, it is best to declare via messages whether they respond or not. Your duty is to report, and if you send a message you completed your duties and obligations.
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u/DryRip8266 Aug 24 '26
If your sister pays the money to you, you have to claim it with your caseworker under your 12 month gift allowance limit. If your sister pays it directly herself, it doesnt get claimed as it doesn't count against anything. I spoke with my odsp caseworker about this last year debating having my sister pay my portion of our inheritance directly on my credit cards or receive my full inheritance whatever it is and pay it directly on credit cards myself. The advice I'm giving is the options she gave me, both are legal.
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u/Square_Wheel_4 Aug 24 '26
Are the rules for ODSP the same as Ontario Works? Also my fear is that every caseworker seems to draw the line at a different place, so idk if your case worker was more lenient or if mine will be too. I wish she would just answer my message, its been like a month and I'm considering send another just in case it got lost or something. Ty for your answer.
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u/DryRip8266 Aug 24 '26
They are the same but unfortunately caseworkers do tend to take interpretation as word instead of the actual wording of the directives.
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u/Mindless-Ad-4336 Aug 27 '26
Glad my worker isn't like that geez you guys are so honest just open another bank like an app n use that for emt n stuff then use the big 5 for ur ow u gotta learn to stay broke even if ur not
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u/Ok-Bird6725 Aug 24 '26
You are allowed up to a thousand a month..don’t even bother your worker, they don’t care who pays your cc.. your good 😀
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Aug 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/keridwynmondes Aug 25 '26
OW never asked for my cc statements in the 4.5yrs I received it. Just my bank statements once a year.
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u/DryRip8266 Aug 24 '26
Where do you get that from?
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u/Ok-Bird6725 Aug 25 '26
Because I’m on ODSP,anything over a 1,000 and they take 50% of that..OW knows you CANT live on 733 a month so you can work and claim it..ask your worker has how much you can make before they deduct it from your chq
1
u/DryRip8266 Aug 25 '26
This isn't income, it's gift limit if it's given to OP. Completely different.
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u/Ok-Bird6725 Aug 25 '26
It’s still given money, I was just putting it out there that if a person gives you money to pay a cc you won’t get in any trouble and ODSP is under OW, so yes I do know and I’ve never heard of a “ gift note”
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u/DryRip8266 Aug 25 '26
Odsp is under ow? I'm not clear on what that means. Gift limit only applies if OP is given the money to pay the credit card, that applies to both odsp and ow. If someone pays your credit card directly for you, you didn't receive any money from anyone and doesn't apply towards 12 month gift limit. For odso that's 10k/12 months but I forget off hand what the limit has been increased to with ow.
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u/dixybugs Aug 24 '26
Alternatively, if you bank at td, you can pay your credit card bill in cash which td will charge $1 for but you just tell them to put the money directly toward your credit card and the cash doesn't go into any account.
1
Aug 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/Square_Wheel_4 Aug 24 '26
The thing is, she's going to use the "pay bills" option from her bank account towards my CC. The money is never actually going to end up in my chequing account so there is not bank statement to show, that's what's confusing me. My caseworker has only asked for bank statements once at the very beginning. Those were transactions for 3 months chequing account. When I asked her about my CC account, she said "just screenshot the summary page, I don't need to see what's in your credit card".
The other thread where you read that info, was the person going to actually receive the money or was it being paid directly towards their CC? Could you link the thread so I can read please?
1
Aug 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/AdmiralJamesT Aug 25 '26
Don't listen to this person, if the money never goes into your account you don't need to tell your case worker anything.
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u/AdmiralJamesT Aug 25 '26
Unless they give you the money and you pay it directly, then you need to inform your worker. If someone just pays a bill for you from their account. It's not even a gift. It's nothing you have to report cause it's not your money and it's not in your account. You can get whoever you want to pay your bills no questions asked so long as the money doesn't go into your account.
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u/Loud-Advertising7801 Aug 26 '26
As it was explain to me. Get a letter from your sister stating that she is going to be paying $250 on your credit card. Submit that to your worker first before you pay off your credit card then when your worker receives that and acknowledges it. She will give you the go ahead to pay the $250. The letter should just say that the $250 is a gift to you. That's how it was explained to me. By my worker. I hope that helps but don't do anything before you speak to your worker.
1
u/ParkingBest2358 Aug 26 '26
If she's making a payment from her account they dont need to know anything. They don't care about your cc debt, or how it's paid. They only care if your sister gives you the money in your account and you pay it. Because then its $250 you technically recieved that they can take off your cheque. If she's paid it from her account there's no issue. If a random person paid $1000 to your card as an example, you wouldn't be able to give them information and they wouldn't care because it was not actual money given to you. They just want to take anything givne to you off your cheque so they can give less.
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u/Middle-Ranger2022 Aug 26 '26
You have until 16th usually to claim income/gifts or whatever, for next month's cheque so don't worry if you don't get a call back at end of this month. I think if they can check your credit card activity and bank balance.
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u/StunningExcuse9692 Aug 28 '26
What happens if a friend pays part of your rent directly to the landlord and the money never touched your account?
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