Substantial harm means that direct receipt of funds by the beneficiary would cause
physical or mental injury to the beneficiary. SVB payments can be suspended a maximum of 1 month while a payee is being developed if direct payment to the beneficiary would cause “substantial harm.” The 1-month period
begins the date the stop-payment action is transmitted or the date the CPS learns
of the stop-payment action if it resulted from a systems interface (e.g., a check
is returned because the payee died). If the representative payee issue is not resolved
by the end of 1 month, direct payment to the beneficiary must be initiated unless direct payment is precluded per VB 01503.700A.1.