I have a friend that has been receiving SSI for a while. Her father was receively approved to get SSDI, so now she is drawing off of his SSDI (her SSI was discontinued since she's drawing from his SSDI). Therefore her check has almost doubled in the amount. She also received a large backpay check. She was told when she began getting SSI that she isn't allowed to have over a certain amount of money in the bank. She has just been having her checks cashed and putting the money in a lock box in her home. She's spend most of the money monthly anyway due to her expenses. She now wants to put some of the money in the bank since it's twice as much as what she was getting. Does anyone know if she can only have up to a certain amount of money in the bank in her name with her drawing SSDI now? And what would be the best option for her to put some of the money in the bank?

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 08:00 am:

When you draw Disability which is totally different than SSI, you are allowed bank accounts, more than one car, land, etc. Anything you want. SSDI (Disability) is NOT based on income, so if she isn't receiving SSI, then she can have as much in the bank as she wishes. She can have five cars. She can own 12 properties!

SSI is based on income level, so you can't have money saved up in the bank past a certain (low) level, and you can't have more than one property, etc.

She needs to be sure that she has SSDI, and if so, there are no worries. If she isn't positive, have her call the Social Security Administration to let them confirm what she has, and then tell her to ask them if it is income based. If they say no, she's in the clear.

By the way, I worked as a paralegal dealing with SSI/Disability so that's why I'm pretty clear on all of this!