How You Can (and can’t) Make Money While on SSI

dee
Art: Robin Mead

Some types of income affect your SSI check. Some don’t. Below is a long and detailed list of everything you can and cannot do and what will or won’t happen when you do it. Before getting started, let’s do a quick check to make sure you are on the right page:

šŸŒ·Ā If you are reading here because you are interested in working and want to know the work rules, check out this page: Working While on Disability

šŸŒ·Ā If you are on SSDI (and not on SSI), you are lucky because you do not need to follow all the SSI financial rules. In fact, you do not need to read the rest of this page. Here’s something that might interest you more:Ā Everything No One Ever Tells You About Living on Social Security Disability

šŸŒ·Ā If you don’t know if you are on SSI or SSDI, you are not alone.Ā Am I On SSI or SSDI?

School Financial Aid

Student Loans – Student loans do not affect SSI. The loan does not need to be used for educational expenses. Many students use loans to pay for food, housing, transportation, or other other expenses while they are in school. If you already have student loans and you are having difficulty, there are some programs that assist people who are low-income or disabled. Check out: How to Escape Student Loans

Grants, Fellowships, Scholarships, Tuition Money – Depends. Any money used directly for educational expenses will NOT affect SSI. Any money used for other purposes, may or may not affect SSI. It will depend on where the funds came from. Some type of grants (such as pell grants, work study, and state education assistance) do not count. Here is the policy on which kinds of grants count. Also, please check out:Ā What Does Social Security Consider an ā€œEducational Expenseā€?

Work Income

Working – Working will usually lower your check, but you may still wind up ahead. In many situations, for every $2 you earn, your check will be lowered by $1. There are a lot of other things you need to know. Please take a look at this link.

PASS plans – Work income can be placed into a PASS plan and your SSI check will not go down, even if you work or receive income.

Impairmentā€“Related Work Expenses – If you are working and spend money on things that help you work. Can be anything disability related – special transportation, any items you need, hiring someone to provide assistance, extra medications, medical equipment, etc. If you are blind there are also Special SSI Rule for Blind People Who Work. Learn more about:Ā What counts as an Impairment Related Expense?

Self Employment – Social Security will consider the amount of profit you earned after your business expenses. Any money you earned and spent on business-related expenses will not make your check go down. For a home-based business, this might include part of your rent, utilities, internet, computers, etc.

Gifts, Inheritance & Money from Others

Gifts & InheritanceĀ – If someone gives you money, your SSI check goes down. Sometimes! These are the programs that allow you to receive gifts or money without affecting your SSI. There are also certain types of gifts that do not count.

Live-in Spouse Pays Your Bills or Gives You Gifts – If you live with your spouse, their income will already be taken into account. It will not matter if they pay your bills or give you gifts.

Someone Else Paying Your BillsĀ ā€“ In certain situations, someone else can pay your bills without this affecting your SSI. However, it depends which bills they pay.

Spouse’s Income – If you live with your spouse, in most situations their income will impact your SSI check. This is called “deeming.” There are some exceptions to the deeming rules in the link above.

Parent’s IncomeĀ – If you are under age 18 and you live with your parents, in most situations their income will impact your SSI check. This is called “deeming.” There are some exceptions to the deeming rules in the link above.

Living with Other People – If you live with other people (not spouse, not parent of minor) in most situations, their income will not impact your check. But wait! There are some times when someone else’s income will affect you. Please see link above.

Loans from Friends or FamilyĀ – Loans do not affect SSI. Must be properly documented with a valid loan agreement.

Other Forms of Income

Other loans – All loans and mortgages do not affect SSI. Must be properly documented with a valid loan agreement.

Government and Nonprofit Assistance – Food Stamps, HUD Housing, Utilities Assistance and most other government and nonprofit programs will not impact your SSI. Many programs are listed in this link. You are allowed to receive food, housing and most other forms of assistance from nonprofit and government agencies. You are also allowed to receive reimbursements for paid expenses.Ā Policies on Excluded Income

Reassessing Your SSI Check – If your SSI check is not at maximum, it is good to check and understand what is lowering it, and make sure Social Security has all your correct and accurate information.Ā How Much is Maximum SSI?

PASS plans – Income from any source can be placed in a PASS plan to save for an employment goal. For example: Work income, SSDI, financial aid, or any other kind of income. Your SSI check will not go down, even if you receive income. You do not need to be working to open a PASS plan. You do need to be planning to work, or planning to go to school to learn skills that will help you work.

More Exclusions

There are many more small and obscure policies of things that will be excluded as income. Examples:

  • $20 per month from any source
  • $65 per month from working
  • Income tax refunds
  • Disaster assistance
  • Insurance payments or other money to replace lost, damage or stolen items
  • Selling a home to buy a new home (within 3 months)
  • Certain clinical trials
  • Selling resources or personal belongings
  • If you are student under the age of 22, you can have more income through a Student Earned Income Exclusion
  • Certain Indian Trust fund payment
  • Small amounts of infrequent income ($30 per calendar earned income; $60 per calendar quarter earned income)
  • See links below for more types of excluded income

POLICIES

Warning!

Warning: Even if something does not count as income, if you keep the money, next month it can start counting as a resource.Ā How to Tell the Difference Between the (Super Confusing) Income and Resource Rules for SSI

The income rules are completely and totally different than the resource rules!!Ā If you are interested in learning more about resources, check out:Ā How Will Savings and Resources Affect My SSI Check?

Income That Can Cause Problems

These things can lower your check. If you do any of these things, you need to notify Social Security. Your check may be lowered, or you may owe money back.

Special Notes About Child Support

  • Child Support if the Parent is on SSI – Child Support income will not affect the parent’s SSI, as long as the money is spent on the child. In other words, you can spend it on the child’s share of food rent and utilities, but should not spend it on your share of food, rent and utilities. If you keep the money in a bank account with your name on it, be careful that you do not go over your SSI resource limit.
  • Child Support if the Child is on SSI – Child Support can reduce or eliminate SSI and Medicaid. There are other options: Protecting SSI from Child Support
  • If you are on SSI and your child has savings, do NOT hold these savings in a joint account or Social Security will count this savings as yours. According to the regulations, Social Security will only recognize it as the child’s money if the bank account is set up in a special way to show the child as the only owner.

FEELING CONFUSED?

šŸŒ·Ā If you are feeling confused or you are being told conflicting information, there’s a very good chance this is happening because someone is mixing up the resource room with the income rules. Totally different rules!Ā How to Tell the Difference Between the Income and Resource Rules

šŸŒ· It’s also possible someone is mixing up the SSI rules with the SSDI rules. Also totally different rules!Ā How to Tell Understand the Difference Between SSI and SSDI

šŸŒ·Ā Lots more SSI policies it may help you to know:Ā How to Stay Out of Hot Water with SSI

šŸŒ·Ā Financial survival while on SSI. Not easy! Not impossible!Ā How to Survive on SSI

Updated July 2018. Please comment below with stories, ideas, questions or suggestions. Please let us know if any links on this page stop working.

 

48 thoughts on “How You Can (and can’t) Make Money While on SSI”

  1. I earn money each month taking online surveys. I was told this money is considered “unearned” income” because I am not an employee of the survey companies.

    Like

  2. Can someone verify that my child’s child support will not be counted fir my SSI?
    The money is his and spent in him.
    I’m being told it counts as unearned income for me (the one who just got approved.) Ty

    Like

    1. In my understanding, child support will not count as income to you. If your child is also on SSI, it will count as income to the child. If they count it as income to you, I would appeal this decision.

      Also: The resource limit can still apply to you though. If you have more than $2000 in your bank account on the last day of the month, or in savings in cash or in other kinds of savings, this can cause your SSI to stop for one month.

      Like

  3. How much effort, documenting of my attempts, should I undertake in proving my disability first manifested before age 26? I was so stunned when I called the hospital where I was diagnosed and the SSA, and both reported that at a quarter-century, the records are likely destroyed. SSA is not charging me, but I am not sure how much I should play “Go Fish” with the three hospitals I have been to because they do charge. I was told the only way to know is to put in an order and see if something comes back. BTW, I went ahead and opened the ABLE account because I needed to dispose of some troublesome assets in time for my Medicaid review, which is now.

    I have been able to turn back the clock to age 26 with a record recovered at a practice my PCP used to work at. However, doctors may have shorthanded my diagnosis date to just “1995,” which does not push me to before age 26, even though I know with 100% certainty what day the diagnosis was first coded into my chart because it occurred on a nationally significant date. As a diagnosis of exclusion, at the plodding pace of one test a month, backdating from that date to the prior August, when I was 25, would not be unreasonable for me to say, “There’s the proof.”

    I know from CalABLE, they use self-certification, so long as I can say “symptoms occurred before age 26” is true, which I can. However, various places on the Internet state the IRS(?) may ask for proof at a later date, which I find worrisome because it likely unprovable in my case due to the age of the records.

    Like

    2. were you approved for disability with an onset date before age 26? if yes, you probably don’t need any medical records, maybe just something from SSA about approval and onset date.

      Like

      1. Coincidentally, I received a VM today from my worker at SSA. He said they were able to retrieve the box! So maybe there is hope that my initial correspondences, and medical records, during the application process from 1997 -1999, survived.

        There was significant backdating on my case from my April 2000 first SSDI payment to May 1997 as my “disability start date” or similar term. This is much different from onset date of the disabling condition, which is what ABLE uses, Most online publications get this distinction wrong often stating “diagnosed before age 26.” I first read about ABLE accounts in a newspaper of national reach nearly two years ago, and I remember thinking, “Wow, I missed it by three months,” and “With Estate Recovery for all ages, why would someone want to roll the dice,” with account maximums on the value of the accounts, varying by state for those on SSDI only, of roughly $250,000 to $550,000, to have Medicaid get it all in the end, to reimburse for medical bills paid by Medicaid after the account was opened. In my case, the big ticket items are my Extra Help (drug for one disabling condition > $7K a month, total drug costs, all payers, under Medicare Part D > $100,000 annually), imaging, and transportation, so yeah, there is no way I am saving anywhere close to to my state’s maximum value. The other variable, brought to me by a Google Alert this week, is IF there Estate Recovery in your state. I know from the CWIC, my state does not slap a lien on anything if there is no usage of a nursing home or LTC services. (My mother just went through this, on Medicaid during most of its existence for being below the poverty line, and had to sign something only in her late 80s, that the proposed step up in services in her home would put her in an Estate Recovery situation, and she had to sign to acknowledge she understood.) CalABLE has much information on the topic, and it is not all California-specific, like a reference to Federal Probate Law.

        BTW, CalABLE said I qualified. I asked them, stating I was interested in opening an account, but I wanted to make sure I qualified. I gave them my first symptoms date (the only date under 26), the date it was first coded as a diagnosis in my medical chart, and SSA’s disability date, as one of two conditions under which they found me disabled. I was told I qualified, and when I open the account, I self-certified, by checking the box, under penalty of perjury, I don’t remember the exact words, “I have a disabling condition which (started?) before the age of 26.”

        The Ohio consortium’s STABLE account, to my state belongs, has a script, which is printed on the member state pages, the Treasurer’s office in my state. The FAQs are woefully inadequate. The ABLE hotline sticks to the same script. Since ABLE is a federal program, I tried both of my Senator’s offices, and I ended up educating them based on my own readings on ABLE instead of the other way around. A project representing disabled people in my state referred me to a financial planner or accountant. For the near-poor? Right …. However, I used that information to focus my Googling to the continuing education and blogs of financial planners and bingo, I got the best information there. FINALLY!

        BTW, I learned certain states offer a credit or deduction, and it is primarily in the Midwest and Southern states in addition to the Federal one. Most states welcome out-of-state account holders, as California does. (I live in the Northeast.) And the age my change to “under age 46” due to only about one percent estimated eligible people who could have an account and to increase the number of accounts, including disabled veterans. The program may enter a death spiral if the number of accounts does not pick up is why the age may increase. However, such proposals have been voted down twice, so if you are interested in this program over the long haul 1) open an account and 2) contact your Senators about supporting the proposed age of onset to age 46.

        Like

        1. thanks so much for all the info.

          I’m not sure I understood this part, but if a “disability start date” is written anywhere in your SSA records, that would usually mean “onset date”?

          Like

  4. Hi Sleepygirl…….

    First off, just want to say thank you for creating and running your helpful blog. When I first encountered it, I thought was amazing…..and I still do. On occasion, I have mentioned it in the SSI/SSDI FB groups in which I am a member.

    My ongoing concern, is the selling of used goods….used items from my household, used stuff…and just things that normally might go into a garage sale, but instead, i am wanting to sell them via the local Facabook marketplace. Does that go against my SSI disability income? Selling helped me to survive in the interim 2.5 yrs wait prior to my disability hearing…..but now—–now I am feeling skittish about even posting items for sale via Facebook, much less actually selling said personal goods.

    Can a person sell personal goods, advertising them for via FB marketplace, and -not- get into trouble for doing so? I’ve items literally awaiting my photographing them/posting them as I type this inquiry.

    Thank you……..

    Like

    1. Hi Thursday,

      My best understanding is that selling items you personally own is considered conversion of a resource, not income, so it would not be considered income for SSI. It’s a good idea to keep written proof of the sale in case it’s ever needed.Ā 

      https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0500815200

      If you are selling things ongoingly as a small business (for example someone who buys and resells things) that would probably be different. In my understanding, you would need to report that you were working and have a small business. However the countable work income would only be the profit of the business, after business expenses.

      Also, income and resources are different. For example, if someone sold their personal car for $5000, that would not be considered income, but it would be a resource that could put them over the resource limit.

      Like

  5. Okay, my question is this; Say I want to put up a tshirt store thing on Teespring. I am on SSI. If I sell Tshirts, how much can I earn, and when or how much do I have to earn to report it? I guess that they send you a tax form, even if you decide to sell 100% to charity. If it all DOES go to charity, and I don’t make any money off of it, will I still have to file the write off if I am exempt from taxes? I really need help with this one..

    Like

    1. Hi Pixel,

      There is info on this page on how working impacts SSI and how to report working: https://howtogeton.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/how-to-work-without-too-much-trouble/

      If your goal is to volunteer your time to sell t-shirts for a charity, you might consider meeting with the charity and/or with an accountant to see if there is a way to set up the t-shirt sales as part of the nonprofit that runs the charity.

      If your goal is to set up a business for yourself and work at that business, then yes, you would need to report all of your work activity to SSA and to the IRS.

      As far as I know, SSA will consider all your work earnings to be your income. They won’t really care if you later donate your money to charity.

      Social Security will count the amount you make after business expenses. Not every dollar in sales.

      In the link above, there are links to some programs that can provide more information on how this works.

      Hope this helps.

      Like

  6. Thanks for the info! For Impairment-Related Expenses, can I have my doctor to sign Impairment-Related Expenses list for items and services are medically necessary for me to function at work? Would the signed list by doctor be deductible for SSI?

    Like

  7. I am on ssdi and am not able to earn anything extra until I turn 65 and 2 months so I am falling into debt faster than I can get out of it . But dose my government care about that no they do not!!!! what am I supposed to do . I need help badly on this. Thank you

    Like

  8. So for example if I choose to watch someone with a disability like watch them. would I be able to receive a check for that and not have my SSI be reduced, long as I don’t make over a certain amount?

    Like

  9. P.S. It amounts to several thousand dollars difference in the back-pay calculations so I’m just nervous….thanks again.

    Like

  10. Thank you both!!!! If anyone has been thru this, please post advice….. I plan to start with his Access program Counselor and see how that goes. She is helpful. I’m just trying to avoid the situation where she passes me off to some “official” person less familiar with the situation and I can’t get the forms filled out because of some strict policy applicable to non-disabled students ….. He ATTENDS 8 hrs per week, but if they are not going to count the tutoring and extra hours of help thru the Access program for Disabled Students, then it is probably going to come down to how picky SSA wants to be……….. I have not been able to find a good explanation of ‘attending’ because it does not strictly say credit hours, or non-credit hours (which he has some of those classes), etc…. and it says nothing about summer school only semesters/quarters….. I’m thinking I might just go by calendar year and give the total hours for the year…. Hmmmm. Thanks again for your awesome website.

    Like

    1. If it is a program that gives him job skills and he attends 12 hours, he might qualify under this reg:
      “in a course of training to prepare him or her for a paying job for at least 15 hours per week if the course involves shop practice, or 12 hours per week if it does not involve shop practice. This training includes anti-poverty programs, such as the Job Corps and government-supported courses in self-improvement”

      Like

  11. Your blog is awesome, you should really publish a book – I need it. Our son was recently approved for SSI and SSDI going back two years So now, we are trying to figure out the Student Earned Inome Exclusion since he has been a part-time student at the community college thru their Access Services program for Students with Disabilities. When SSA figured the SSI back pay, they don’t exclude any of his income from part-time job, so he winds up with a lot less backpay EVEN THO I specifically mades sure at the SSA interview that they had him entered as a student. Can’t get back in touch with the same person that did the interview, blah blah blah. Now they have sent me a form to fill out SSA-1372-BK “Student Statement Regarding School Attendance” with forms for the school to fiill out (“Certification by School Official”). This form is not designed for a community college situation but rather for someone who is attending high school past 18 yrs old. I went back to SSA office and got someone different and they are trying to tell me that he has to be enrolled in a minimum of 8 hrs per week and he can’t enroll and then drop a class, etc. etc.. (which he has done twice because he couldn’t keep up with the work). He was not enrolled in 8 credit hours (and they say they won’t count Access tutoring etc.) for each semester going back 2 years – although he did attend summer school also. SSA suggested I write up some kind of a statement for the school to sign-off on saying he can’t take more hours due to having a disability. I doubt the community college is going to provide that type of a statement. Any advice?

    Like

    1. Thanks for your post. The rule I am seeing is “in a college or university for at least 8 hours per week under a semester or quarter system” Not sure if that is the same as 8 credit hours or not.

      The page is here:
      https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0500501020#c

      I’m sorry to say I know nothing about these rules, but my initial thoughts are:

      1. If there were breaks in attendance due to disability or other special circumstances, you could get a letter from a doctor or other medical provider confirming this. Then submit that, PLUS enclose reference to the rule “for less than the amount of time indicated above for reasons beyond the student’s control, such as illness, if circumstances justify the reduced credit load or attendance.”

      2. If he had a teacher or counselor that recommended he take a short break, you could get a letter confirming this and submit that along with the reg on the page above for “Absence due to a recommendation of a teacher or counselor”

      3. You could try submitting written documentation confirming his tutoring hours plus his summer school hours and a written request that this additional coursework be considered as equal to 8 credit hours (not sure if that would get approved, but doesn’t hurt to try) šŸ™‚

      4. Or you could try contacting the disability services office at his school and ask them to help you document special circumstances which prevented him from completing the 8 hours. Perhaps they would be willing to write a letter?

      Those are my initial ideas. šŸ™‚ perhaps someone else will have more.

      whatever happens, make sure to submit the request in writing and ask for a written decision. If it doesn’t go your way, you can ask how to appeal or fill out a request for reconsideration form.

      Like

      1. I wonder if the Voc Rehab Incentives Coordinator might be helpful. They are trained to know these rules and regs and guide people through these. You could call Voc Rehab, ask for the “Incentives Coordinator” and talk over phone to see if they may be of help.
        Sleepy Girl, I too just love your articles and always find them useful. I pass so many on to friends also. You’re the go-to on understanding being on disabitlity. YOu truly are incredible. Thank you!
        One thing I do when I get your emails, I forward the email back to myself with a new subject line of what the topic that interested me was about. I like to save subjects that I like in my emails.
        Thank you so very much!
        How did you find out all the information you have found. It’s quite extensive!

        Like

    3. This is the last P.S.

      If it turns out there is no way for the income to be excluded, it is still possible that the countable income would be reduced from “impairment related work expenses” I can find the reg if helpful.

      Like

  12. As I recall, if you get 10K for selling something there are two options that make it ineligible to be over the 2K limits.
    I think that money can be deposited in an ABLE Acct if you’re eligible, which usually means you became disabled prior to age 26. Once in that account, SSI doesn’t count that money, but the money has to be put toward disabilty expenses, which has a very broad meaning in the ABLE Act
    My second understanding is that if you spend the 10K prior to the next month, it doesn’t count toward the 2 K limit. You’ll need to double check on these two things as that’s my recolllection

    Like

    1. I don’t know the reg for this, so I looked it up and this is what I found:

      “what you receive from the sale or exchange of your own property is not income; it remains a resource.”

      https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/416/416-1103.htm

      Please double check what I am saying. I would understand this to mean that they won’t count it as income (unless you are regularly buying and selling things, that would be a small business).

      But since it is a resource, if you sell something expensive that could put someone over the resource limit.

      For example, let’s say someone owns one car. One car is excluded as a resource and doesn’t count so this doesn’t affect SSI.

      Then they sell the car for $10,000. Suddenly they have $10,000 in money in the bank, and they are over the resource limit, which may make them ineligible.

      That is the best of my understanding, but please double check.

      Like

  14. I didn’t know about any of this when I applied, and frankly from all the horror stories about denials I didn’t expect to get SSI. During that time, I got chunk of money as a birthday present, and I went crazy and spent almost all of it that month! I did (thankfully) spend it on what I read is “exempted” like furniture, clothing, hair. appliances, but I didn’t keep every single receipt! Why doesn’t anyone tell you about this when you apply. Do they only exempt what I can show a receipt for? Because I don’t have any of that money left now.

    Like

    1. Hi Fina,

      They will probably count the gift as income, so it may affect your backpay for one month, but if you spent it quickly, will probably only impact that one month. Or maybe two depending on the timing.

      Sorry I don’t have exact info here, I don’t know every regulation in this area: I have not heard of them asking people for receipts for ordinary purchases. If you had more than $2,000 in the bank, it is possible they will ask some questions about how the money was spent to get it back below $2,000. Mostly they would just be checking that you did not give it away.

      Just answer honestly and they will let you know if they need to see any receipts (they may not). Unless you spent it all in cash, there is probably some record of some purchases on bank statements or credit cards, but I am not sure they will even need this level of detail.

      I hope it goes well for you.

      Like

  15. I’m so confused on this new able account stuff. How do you contribute and save at the same time I barely make it thru the month as is.. and need so many things and so do my children which have disabilities. Can I start using this account right away to make qualified expenses. Please help!!

    Like

      1. Ps- you ask- how do I contribute and save at the same time.
        For me, only if I have extra money can I contribute. I donā€™t have family members or friends who contribute, but it allows them to.

        My conjecture is these accounts were initially set up bz people with money who have autistic children lobbied representatives they needed to shelter their money to have their kids on disability to be able to give them their money, but not be off the govt programs.
        I say this because anyone who has never worked and on disability cannot begin to think that they can contribute to the 14,000 yearly limit contribution allowable with ABLE or 300,000 max contribution. If I can save $25 every few months thatā€™s amazing!
        The reason I think itā€™s the autism community that started the lobbying is the info abt the able act first came out to me through the autism community.
        ABLE is an opportunity for family/friends to contribute, but I canā€™t undrrsysnd yet how that doesnā€™t effect food stamps and sect 8 from going down. If I have to report that people gave me money, then it would decrease the deduction I get for those expenses, I think.
        I know that the money on the able account isnā€™t counted, but I thought you have to report if people contribute to the able acct
        Can anyone clarify this?

        Like

        1. Hi sharon,

          Thank you for this great post.

          My understanding is that if family or friends give you money, it would need to be deposited directly into the able account by that person. Then it will not affect food stamps or SSI – as long as it is only spent on qualifying disability expenses. (But for SSI, it can’t be spent on food).

          The person giving you money probably needs to sign a special form and mail their check straight to ABLE.

          If they money is given to YOU and YOU put it in ABLE then you need to report it, and it would make food stamps and SSI go down.

          Section 8 is different. HUD has not created rules for ABLE accounts yet, so the way this is handled will probably be up to the local agency that manages your Section 8.

          Like

    2. I have an able acct and yes, you can start using it right away.
      You can belong to most any stateā€™s able acct as itā€™s allowed and things to comsider in choosing which states acct is 1) cost of the acct (the Tennessee was the cheapest I found, and thereā€™s a comparison website you can go to) and 2) if you have a relative you wants a tax deduction by giving you money. This can be insentive for a relative to give you money. If you would get more money that way then youā€™d want to look into the state their fromā€™s able act and see if that state has tax deductions as not all do.
      Go to http://www.ablerc.org for all info on programs. Itā€™s the national able webpage.
      Itā€™s been great place to put my money that would make me go over 2000 limit.
      I think any money given to you still has to be reported (I think but I would like that confirmed )
      Also, you donā€™t have to be on govt disability to qualify for able. You can be determined to have a disability by a doctors note and of a certain age (look at website for details)

      Like

        1. At the http://www.ablerc.gov they are looking for accounts holders to be an advisory group. I highly suggest sonw one be on there to represent people who donā€™t have money.
          Iā€™d like to but have some parameters on my ability to do so. If someoneā€™s interested please reply, otherwise I may look into whether or not would be able .

          Like

  16. There are great cash back programs at banks – join the bank and follow a couple rules and get $200 free that added into checking acct. I was told this money is counted as taxable interest.
    Also, thereā€™s credit cards that give $200 credited to the credit card account (no cash received) when terms are met.
    Do you know if these affect SsI or food stamps, sect 8 etc, or where I can find out if they do.

    Also, the ABLE Act has been great as Iā€™ve put money into able accounts to keep my assists below $2000 and able to use the money for a very wide range of disability related expenses.

    Like

    1. Great suggestions. Thank you.

      As far as cash back – For SSI, for money into a checking account, I think it would probably be considered unearned income, so SSI would not count $20 per month plus $60 per quarter). My understanding would be: the first $80 would not count, but any amount over that might lower your SSI check that month.

      For the credit card, that is a very interesting question. You have a good point about no cash being received. I don’t know how that would be handled.

      I don’t know for Food Stamps. In some states, Food Stamps only asks you to contact them about changes in income if they are over a certain dollar amount, so a small one-time payment like this may not have an impact, but I don’t know for sure. You could check with your food stamps case worker.

      Like

      1. Thanks for the info that you have.
        If interested anyone interested in credit cards/banks I can suggest http://www.doctor of credit.com with a caveat that only those with excellent credit and know how to be financially responsible do this as it involves following a few details. For those who have those, itā€™s easy, but fot those who do not, itā€™s likely to cause problems.

        Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s