UHHH SSI hell.

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So i've been getting around 733 dollars for SSI and paying 300 dollars rent since I've gotten on SSI, I moved from my moms house to my brothers house with other room-mates but still was paying 300 it got raised to 315 also I had planned to start paying utilities because me and my boyfriend need to try and save up to move out when the lease runs out. Basically I was told if my rent was 300 or more I should be getting the full amount. But yeah they recently did a case reveiw and somehow determined they overpaid me and want to reduce my amount to 496 and then from there they want to bring it down to 423.

So basically I now have to pay 400 for rent + utilities, and they want to reduce my SSI to 423 a month which gives me 23 dollars to live on for a whole month after paying that. But yeah I don't get it since my rent has never decreased and has recently gone up rather than down, so they shouldn't be decreasing it by that. Just frusterating, but hopefully I can get it cleared up.

^ I sympathise.
dealing with human services is extremely frustrating.
I hope you get it sorted out.

Sometimes I think it may all be a ploy to make people say "The hell with it! I'll become a prostitute or drug dealer so I don't have to deal with this crap!"

The DHS keeps cutting me off the disability pension because they say I haven't reported, when I've walked down there (quite a distance) in the scorching heat every fortnight and reported in person.

The greeter even told me she remembered me from last time.
But when I get to the interview desk, last fortnight's report has somehow been lost.
I feel like I need to ask them for a receipt to prove I've been there.

Huh, they force you to report every fortnight?

I'm only required to report like 2 or 3 times a year.

To be honest, you do have to fight hard to get a fair treatment. They refused to even consider me for disability (despite local professionals demanding that I be accepted) until I flew interstate to see Prof. Attwood and had him personally write a report.

Well in a while I may be able to say to hell with it I can work now, still working with voc-rehab to sort of determine abilities and what support/accommodations would make me more employable and start out with some minimal hours. But for now people depend on me to pay my rent and as of this month 95$ in utilities, also my phone is 40$ which looky there already puts me having higher expenses than my SSI income with how much they lowered it.

I think I might actually just have to file a damn appeal, because its been simular sh*t with me I've physically gone in there over and over first thing in the morning and somehow they can't get this cleared up..its either oh just fill out this, oh we still needed this, oh this should help you should get a letter soon, well it doesn't bloody help is the letter is to inform me instead of 496 they want to lower it to 423 because some B.S overpayment that never occurred.

Oh and guess what you have to file the appeal by mail, because they really really really love to make you wait as long as they possibly can, to get stuff like this resolved apparently. I think it is more likely this sort of dragged out process is probably the part of SSI that wastes the most taxpayer money...it likely wastes way more money than the few cases of fraud out there. And inconveniences people who actually need their SSI...

It's HARD dealing with the SSI, I have to talk to someone & fill out papers for my medical review. I didn't get my money his month

That really sucks!

You should call a disability lawyer and describe what happened.

Hopefully, upon appeal, you'll get the full $733, plus backpay.

First, drop the negative, self-defeating attitudes. Second, get a full explanation of how they came to the conclusion they should be paying you less. "Somehow they decided" is not good enough. The math involved is basically limited to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, to you should be able to understand it. No quadratic equations or anything. Find out the caseworker who can work with you on this, get their name and phone number and extension, and the politely but patiently go over every detail, every question, whether on phone or in person, until you totally understand what happened and why. Ask as many questions as it takes. You are entitled to ask "so if I do ____, will that raise or lower my benefit? How can I get the full amount?"

I have found if you can work patiently with them on this, you will usually get a much better outcome. I am happy with the outcome I myself have had with Social Security, but it required a lot of work. Just be patient and persistent.

Good luck.

I called them yesterday, and they found the letter for my proof of rent & utilities and have added that...I guess they just hadn't gotten to it yet from when I put it in the drop box. So hopefully that will fix it, since it says I am also paying the utilities starting this month. If anything it might make sense if they deduct some from the 733 for the past months I wasn't paying utilities. I guess apparently even though my rent didn't change that I was living with room-mates rather than still at my moms house and only paying rent could have resulted in over-payment, but I thought it only effected it if you actually started paying less rent not just having a slightly different living situation. But at least I can work with them deducting some out of the 733, at least then it wont be cutting into my necessary bills.

But yeah if that doesn't end up helping then I'll just file an appeal and try and be patient and stay calm about it, it certainly wont help to get all worked up and stressed about it. I am sure I am not the first person who's dealt with this kind of thing.

If you think you are right and they are wrong, when dealing with the SSA, you probably are right and they probably are wrong. They were supposed to send me a check once, and I hadn't received it, so I called and they told me they would send a replacement check, and they did, and I cashed it. A few weeks after receiving the replacement check, I received the original. I called the SSA and asked if I should mail the original back, and I was told to just tear it up and discard it. Well previous dealings with them told me that that would be dumb, because this is the government we are dealing with after all, so I just put the check away in my filing box.

Sure enough, a few months later, I received a letter from them stating that they over paid me and wanted the money back. I called and told them they didn't over pay me, and that they issued a replacement check for a check I hadn't received, and then received late, after cashing the replacement check, and that the original check had never been cashed. Did they ever check to make sure it wasn't cashed? No, they just saw that they sent two checks, and assumed both had been cashed. Long story short, they wanted me to prove to them that I didn't cash both checks, rather than they prove to me that I did, so I had to pull the check out of the filing box and either send it back to them or send them a photo copy...I don't recall which. Anyway, document your dealings with the SSA. Make copies of everything you send them, keep a log of what you sent and when, and write down names and dates of who you've spoken with and when. Also, check their calculations and if you are told something that sounds wrong to you, get verification from more than two people, in different departments.

Geez, and I thought AiSH payments were low. You guys have it rough in the 'States.

I browsed through. My mom is getting denied on disability. All I can say is my heart goes out to you. To whoever said drop the self-defeating, negative attitude. I would say that's not the appropriate way to convey that CBT is more helpful. Yes, CBT thinking styles are helpful, but I think a season of protest is okay so long as it doesn't become a bad habit. Hugs xoxo

I was the person who said drop the self-defeating, negative attitude. I was not preaching CBT. I was saying that in my several interactions with Social Security, I have learned that an adversarial approach is NOT the best way to approach the agency.

You're right, Bea. An adversarial approach is a recipe for FAILURE.

Did anything ever turn out with Voc Rehab?

is that per month?
i think australia is much more generous.

i get dsp (disability support pension) which is $900 per fortnight, and $1,600 every 6th payment (to coincide with quarterly utility bills)
i have emphysema (but not that bad) and qualify for the pension and that is enough of an income for me nowadays.

i worked quite hard and bought a house outright, and so my expenses are $ 800 per year for rates (about $23 per week) and my quarterly water bill is about $80 ($6.50 per week) and my quarterly electricity bill is about $260 ($22 per week) and my quarterly gas is about $125 (about $16 per week). (quarterly means every 12 weeks)

the internet and landline phone is $100 per month which is the biggest expense.

so, as you can see, my expenses are far less than my pension.

i have never had to report to human services.

it is very cheap to be paying $300 per month (i guess it is per month).

in australia, the average rent for a 2 bedroom flat (condo?) is about $380 per fortnight if you are renting.

sorry i have not presented any solutions for your predicament, but i am interested to show how australia seems to compare.