You may know someone gets a monthly Social Security benefit or Supplemental Security Income payment.

If that person needs help managing their money, Social Security can appoint a person or organization to act as a representative payee. According to Jack Myers at Social Security, the representative payee would be responsible for receiving and managing the person’s benefits and would need to ensure that the person’s needs were being met with the benefit before other purchases could be made.

The form as well as other helpful services for the payee can be completed through our Representative Payee Portal at mySocialSecurity. The Representative Payee Portal is accessed through the payee’s own my Social Security account and it is not available to organizations who serve as payee. Myers adds when you apply for Social Security benefits, you have the option to designate up to 3 different people who could be your representative payee if you ever need one.  

When Social Security assigns a payee, they select someone who knows the beneficiary’s needs and is in position to best use their benefits for the person’s care and well-being. Myers points out representative payees are accountable for how they use the beneficiary’s funds and reporting issues to us that may affect beneficiary’s eligibility.

To learn more about the payee program, visit www.ssa.gov/payee.