How Often Are Past-Due Benefits for SSI Paid?
- Once you receive an SSI award, your payment goes back to the date of application, not to the date of onset of your disability, blindness or turning age 65. Unlike Social Security disability benefits, SSI does not have a five-month waiting period, so you receive payments starting with the first of the month after the month you apply. If you receive state benefits while waiting for SSI, Social Security pays the state back with your funds when they arrive.
- If your payments equal more than three times the maximum monthly benefit -- both federal and state supplements -- your payments fall under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. That law, signed in 2006, requires that the Social Security Administration divide your SSI benefits into three payments. Your payments must be six months apart, and the first two payments can be no more than three times your monthly maximum payment amount. The third payment falls six months after the second one and is for the total remaining past-due benefits.
- Payments received for past-due SSI do not count as resources for nine months from receipt. This allows the SSI recipient to use the benefits without the money counting in the $2,000 limitation of resources allowed. Any payment remaining after nine months is a countable resource for SSI.
- If you have a medical condition expected to result in your death within the next 12 months, the Social Security Administration can pay your SSI benefits in a lump sum. If you become ineligible for SSI benefits, you can also receive a lump-sum payment. You may qualify for an emergency advance payment of SSI benefits if there is a delay in your benefits payment. You may also qualify for an emergency payment if you face a financial emergency. A financial emergency requires your health and safety to be at-risk. The Social Security Administration subtracts an emergency payment from the next payment due to you.
