Helping as a Representative Payee

If you handle the finances for a Social Security beneficiary or know someone who may need help managing benefits, you may consider applying to become a representative payee.

A representative payee is someone who receives Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments on behalf of a person not capable of managing the funds on his or her own. A representative payee meets the individual’s basic needs by using the money to provide food, clothing, and shelter for the person and saving any left-over money in an interest-bearing account or as savings bonds for the beneficiary’s future needs.

As a representative payee, you must:

• know the person’s needs so you can decide how to meet those needs with the benefits provided.
• be responsible for letting Social Security know about any changes that may affect the person’s eligibility for benefits or the payment amount.
• complete a yearly report of how the funds were spent. (You can do this online.)

To help a friend who receives Social Security or SSI benefits and is not able to manage his or her own finances, help them contact us. Social Security will help determine if a payee is needed and who would be best suited to act in that capacity.

For more information, read, A Guide For Representative Payees, at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs and When People Need Help Managing Their Money, at www.socialsecurity.gov/payee.

Thank you to all caregivers and represntative payees helping people in need.

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Questions, online applications, or to make an appointment to visit a Social Security office, contact:
1-800-772-1213 (toll free) | 1-800-325-0778 (TTY)
www.socialsecurity.gov