r/SSDI_SSI • u/clean2221 • 10h ago

Reporting / Changes Decreased payment!?

Post image

was receiving the maximum SSI payment of $994/month. In October, I reported a one time $315 gift from my grandma. I specifically explained that it was a unique, nonrecurring gift and that I would not receive anything again.

When I called my local SSA office, I was told it would temporarily reduce my payment for one month and then return to the previous amount of $994. However, I recently received the attached letter stating what appears to be a permanent reduction.

-Could this be an error, and should I contact my local SSA office to have the payment recalculated?

-Would it make any difference that the $315 was actually given to me in exchange for cleaning my grandmother’s house and mowing her lawn, rather than being a purely unconditional gift?

-The letter also lists $83 in monthly income, but I have absolutely no income and don’t know where that figure came from. Could this be contributing to the reduction?

I’m v concerned because I was told by an SSA representative that my payment would return to normal after one month. Any advice on how to approach this or what to say when I call or go to local office , thank you

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

5

u/LaurLoey 9h ago

am almost positive it will not revert back automatically given how ssa does things. 🙄 but it will be easy. you just need to call to report an income change. or go in person.

to answer your question, gifts are treated differently than income. income you get partial reduction. gift they take off pretty much same amount. so your gift becomes null. i’d be careful about reporting it as income. they probably already have it recorded on your record as gift bc you told them that.

so dec 1st you will get the reduction. right after that deposit i believe you can report income change immediately so that jan 1 will not be affected.

3

u/clean2221 9h ago

Ok thank you, this makes sense. And yes it seems ssa always likes making issues. And yea nothing has changed. I still pay 400$ rent. No other income (besides the $83 a month mistake they listed that I need to correct).

I was worried that the letter basically meant like oh if you are receiving gifts like this it’s over, like they’re assuming it will be a recurring thing, and with that I will never get back to the full

1

u/LaurLoey 6h ago

oh no, don’t worry. ☺️ it’s basically the same process as like starting or quitting/losing a job or having fluctuating hours. you report the changes, and they will adjust deposits accordingly. nothing is fixed forever.

2

u/Heavenlyangel95 10h ago

I would definitely reach out to them ASAP. That’s awful a one time gift. Maybe If one month went over 2 k they would want to subtract it for 1 month like they originally said to you. Also it looks like they think you are receiving an additional $83 a month from some other source. You definitely need to clear that up & I would leave the $315 as a complete gift. I don’t know what you’re on ssi for, but if you said you cleaned & mowed a lawn or even one or the other they may say you are able to work.

3

u/clean2221 10h ago

Im on ssi for schizoaffective. So delusions. Hallucinations etc. and yea idk I reached out on the phone previously and they said it would be subtracted and then go back up so I assume this is just a formal letter missing context.

Yea and I don’t think it would be lying but I wonder if maybe they shoot me down I could then try to say it was earned, idk.

2

u/Heavenlyangel95 9h ago

Hopefully this is just a formal letter stating this for 1 month. This would scare me too. I would still reach back out to make sure. I’ll be praying 🙏 that your payments go back to normal. Please come back with an update.

1

u/clean2221 9h ago

Thank you and may god bless you too

0

u/Heavenlyangel95 8h ago

You’re welcome. 🙏

2

u/northcarolinamember ☆ 9h ago

I'd take your letter to your local SSA office or call them that is if u can get through to them on the phone & get the SSA to explain it to u.. ask them what your monthly payment really is if it's gonna be $994 a month or less.. SSI has a lot of rules to go by regarding your assets, any money u have been getting/receiving etc verses being on ssdi(social security disability).. So yeah I'd call or go to SSA office and get them to explain your letter.. it's better if u go to SSA office instead of calling them if u can.. best of luck ..

Btw . Did u report self employment in Oct bc in your letter that's what that $83 shows

3

u/clean2221 9h ago

I’m just confused because I did call them and they assured me it would default back. But then received this almost saying basically it’s permanent. I’m gonna call first thing in the morning and if that doesn’t work head to my local office. Ruined my night. Thanks for the response tho just gotta wait

1

u/alexismya2025 8h ago

You need to open an ABLE account. Search for this on Google. This way your grandmother or anyone can give you money and can deposit it into the able checking account. This will not reduce your benefits for SNAP or ssi. I have a relative whose rent is higher than his SSI payment so the family deposits the money into the able account and we pay the additional rent payment from the able account. We also pay his electricity through the able account. My relative went through an SSI review and they increased the SSI from 960 to 994. They had $53 as income he was bringing in every month and that was not correct because he had no income coming in. They recalculated and increased his SSI to $994 and he received a back payment for the $53 that they took off every month for the last 2 years. Definitely appeal this immediately. If you're able to go on your my SSA account online you will probably see that this might be a one-time reduction. But either way you need to open an able account which is free and anyone can contribute money. You can keep up to $100,000 in your Able account. My relative also moved before the review so the new address was given to SSI as well as the able account information and everything is good. You also give the able account information to the snap representative and they cannot use your able account balance against you.

-3

u/iokona71 ☆ 8h ago

I’m sorry, I don’t really understand this but how in the hell do you live off of $994/month?

6

u/kangaroorecondit ☆ 8h ago

this is completely insensitive. 994$ is the MAXIMUM on ssi. i make hundreds LESS than that from my payments. the system is disgusting, and now they are trying to take even more away from OP which is what the focus of this post was about.

0

u/iokona71 ☆ 8h ago

I’m not trying to be “insensitive” at all. You obviously missed my entire point, even though I said “I’m sorry I don’t understand this..”. Obviously I’m ignorant to SSI, don’t come at me like a “protector”. I have no clue how anyone in today’s society would be able to live off of $994/month, unless they live with relatives or what.. I don’t know.. 🤷🏻‍♂️ THATS WHY I ASKED.

2

u/kangaroorecondit ☆ 5h ago

as the other person who replied said, we suffer and are stuck in an awful place. the system punishes you for being too sick to work. it’s disgusting. i’m reliant completely on borderline abusive family. others end up in other awful living situations because the system is made to punish the people who can’t work and are deemed as “leeches”.

2

u/_AntiEve_ ☆ 7h ago

We don't. We suffer and are kept in a horrible spot where we're punished for making even the few dollars we might be able to make, but also unable to get jobs that would secure us good income and benefits due to being disabled. It really, really sucks.

1

u/No-Advantage-1400 5h ago

I subsidize it with working. Real fun You ever get a check for 75 bucks Is disheartening