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Representative Payee Program
The Representative Payee Program provides payee services to those persons determined by the Social Security Administration and/or by the Department of Human Services to be unable to manage monetary benefits.
Initial Eligibility Requirements
1. Persons accepted into the Scott County Representative Payee Program must meet the following requirements:
- Must be a Scott County resident for a minimum of 90 days
- Must be required by Social Security to have a payee
2. Anyone accepted must agree to inform the payee case aides of the following:
- Current residence at all times
- Current landlord name, address and telephone number
- Any sums of money received from any source
- Any checking, savings, or other bank accounts, stocks, bonds, CDs or other assets
- Any insurance policies or burial contracts
- any changes in household living arrangements
Ineligibility Guidelines
This office will consider that clients have made themselves ineligible for the payee program and will close an account and return funds to the Social Security office if a client exhibits abusive behaviors, such as verbally or physically threatening anyone in the office, acts of violence, obscene language, harassing phone calls, etc.
If a client exhibits any of the behaviors that could lead to the account being closed, the case aide will warn the client verbally the first time, then issue a written warning if the behavior continues. If unacceptable behaviors continue after the written warning, the case aide may choose to close the account. This decision will be made jointly with the case aide supervisor and the director.
Reapplying for the Payee Program
Clients whose accounts have been closed because they moved from
Scott County must meet the residency guideline outlined in 1.A before
we will reapply to be payee again.
Our office will reapply for clients who close their accounts with Scott County because they do not like the way we handle their funds only when both the following conditions are met:
- The client has a case manager to assist the case aide in handling difficult situations
- Six months or more have passed since the original account was closed
Community Services reserves the right to refuse to become payee a second time for clients who previously presented seriously unacceptable behaviors.
General Procedures
The first priority of the Representative Payee Program is to ensure that the clients' basic living expenses are taken care of. Expenditures are prioritized as follows:
- Rent
- Utilities
- Medicine
- Food
- Personal needs
Rent and utilities will be paid first, then any other expenses. After all bills are paid, the balance of the funds is generally divided into weekly checks for personal expenses. The goal is to ensure that the client has funds available the last week of the month as well as the first week.
Clients who borrow money from individuals or pawn items for cash must use their personal funds to repay those debts. Any arrangements not pre-approved with this office will have to be taken care of without this office's involvement.
All rent checks are mailed directly to the landlord. Rent checks are mailed out the first three days of the month, and should reach the landlord no later than the 5th of the month.
Clients who move must inform this office of the new address, rent amount, landlord's name, address, and phone number before the 1st of the month. If this office has not been notified by the 1st, the rent will be paid to last month's landlord. If any of the client's belongings are in the old apartment on the 1st of the month, that landlord is owed rent for that month. It will be the client's responsibility to provide the landlord with a 30 day notice before moving.
Clients agree to have all utility, medical and other ongoing bills sent to this office. If bills are not mailed here, this office reserves the right not to pay them.
All client accounts are handled by computer, and the computer holds $25.00 at all times to keep the account open. This amount is withheld from the first deposit into the account, and is returned when the account is closed. If a client's account is closed for any reason, remaining funds, including the $25.00, are mailed back to the Social Security office unless prior arrangements have been made with a new payee.
As of July 1, 1996, Scott County began charging a fee for the representative payee services. This fee is currently .005 of any deposits into the client's account up to a maximum of $25.00 per month. This fee is subject to change, and clients will be notified in advance if such a change is going to take place.
Clients may be seen in the community Service office from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, without an appointment. Regularly scheduled personal expense checks may be picked up at the receptionist's desk at 8:00 a.m. of the client's scheduled day, without seeing the case aide. Clients who need extra money need to notify the case aide in the morning in order to receive the funds in the afternoon. Otherwise the check will not be available until the following afternoon. All extra funds will be available after 3:00 p.m. of the day they are to be received.
On deposit days (usually the 1st and 3rd of each month) checks may not be available until after 3:00 p.m. The computer will not issue a check larger than the amount in the client's account, so funds may have to be deposited before a check can be printed.
Revised 7/1/1999
