When you are unable to work due to disability, receiving your monthly social security disability (SSD) benefits check on time is vital. Without it, many people are unable to pay for basic necessities, such as food and housing. The earliest that you can receive a SSD benefit payment is the sixth full month after the date the SSA determines that you became disabled, and the payment is made the month after it’s due. For example, if you are due a payment in December, you will receive it in January.

The majority of the time you can expect to receive your payment like clockwork. But like everything in life, things sometimes go wrong, which means there may be a time when your check is delayed or doesn’t arrive at all. Luckily, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has policies in place to deal with SSD late payments and, in certain situations, provides expedited payments of SSD benefits.

SSD Late Payments
Most SSD benefit payments are made via direct deposit. If you receive your check by mail, you must wait three days from the date it is due before contacting the SSA to report it missing. If it has been lost or stolen, contact your local SSA office immediately.

SSD Expedited Payments
In some cases, waiting the full six-month period – or possibly longer – to receive your first SSD benefit check is too much of a financial hardship. In these cases, you may be entitled to expedited payment of your SSD benefits. Expedited payments are not guaranteed, and are only available in certain circumstances. They are also only available for supplemental security income (SSI) recipients who are eligible for benefits based on a combination of financial need and disability.

Presumptive Disability or Presumptive Blindness
If you have applied for SSI based on disability or blindness, the SSA may approve payment of benefits for up to six months while your application is being processed. Whether your request is approved depends on the severity of your disability and the likelihood that your application will be approved.

Medical conditions that may result in expedited payments include:

  • Amputation of a leg at the hip;
  • Total deafness or total blindness;
  • Confinement to bed and immobility without assistance due to a longstanding condition
  • Stroke suffered more than three months in the past, with continued difficulty walking and/or using arms or hands;
  • Severe mental deficiency;
  • HIV or AIDS;
  • Lou Gehrig’s disease;
  • Terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less, and;
  • End-stage renal disease requiring chronic dialysis.

Emergency advance payments
This one-time payment can be made to current SSI recipients who are due benefits but have not yet received them, and face a financial emergency. This means that their health or safety is in jeopardy if they do not receive payment – they won’t have money for food, or won’t be able to pay their heating bill, for example. Payment amount is the smallest of the federal payment rate, the total payment due or the amount requested.

Because this is an advance payment on monies owed to the recipient, it must be paid back, either by being deducted from the remaining amount due that month (if any) or over a six-month period by being deducted from monthly payments.

Immediate payment
Immediate payments are made for the same reason as emergency advance payments – the recipient faces a financial emergency that threatens his health and safety if the benefits are not received – but is open to both SSD applicants and current beneficiaries. Payment can be in an amount up to $999, and the advance will be subtracted from the next monthly payment.

Expedited reinstatement
If your benefits were terminated because you earned money through employment, it is possible to get the monthly benefit reinstated without having to go through the application process again, provided that the reason you stopped working was for the same or similar medical condition that qualified you for SSI in the first place. You must also request that benefits be reinstated within five years. You may be eligible to receive provisional benefits for up to six months while the SSA evaluates your request for reinstatement. If your request is denied, the SSA may or may not require reimbursement (though they usually do not).

If you are applying for SSD benefits for the first time or need assistance with a denial of your SSD application, consider the law office of Neil H. Good. Call #(847) 577-4476 or complete this form for a free case evaluation.