Example
1:
At the August 2021 redetermination, the technician documents the following on a Report
of Contact page in CCE:
“Recipient and spouse received all three EIPs, each in a single deposit to their checking
account ($2,400 in May 2020, $1,200 in January 2021, and $2,800 in April 2021). Recipient
alleges saving some of the money in their joint checking account in the months after
they received the EIPs but eventually spending all the EIP money. The retained EIP
payments were completely spent down by July 2020, April 2021, and July 2021, respectively.”
Since the person alleged having more than $400 in liquid assets during the period
of review, the technician requests an AFI verification. When the response is received,
the technician notes a pattern of lower balances, usually between $900 and $1,300,
then spikes in resource values that would result in N04 ineligibility in the months
of June 2020, February 2021, May 2021, and June 2021. The technician also notes a
higher than normal balance in March 2021, but it was not high enough to potentially
cause an N04 ineligibility month.
Since the bank balance patterns and allegation from the Report of Contact page align,
the technician applies the pandemic assistance exclusion on the Financial Institution
Account page to the months that would otherwise calculate to N04 ineligibility (June
2020, February 2021, May 2021, and June 2021). Because the recipient alleged and the
technician documented a complete spend down of excluded funds, the technician would
not have to continue monitoring the resource exclusion for the EIPs during future
reviews.
Example 2:
In December 2023, an individual applies for an Aged SSI claim at their local FO. The
individual alleges receiving all three EIPs, each in a single deposit to their checking
account ($1,200 in May 2020, $600 in January 2021, and $1,400 in April 2021). The
applicant also alleges saving some of the money in their savings account in the months
after they received the EIPs. When the single individual alleges having $2,500, the
technician asks about the source of the funds in the alleged balance. The applicant
alleges the funds were saved from EIPs they received in 2020 and 2021.
However, upon return of an AFI request, the technician discovers that the applicant’s
bank balance dropped to $5 for multiple consecutive months from November 2022 through
May 2023. Suddenly, as of June of 2023, the bank balance showed balances that fluctuated
from $2,700 - $3,000 depending on the month. When asked about the period of a $5 balance
and about the source of the funds currently present in the account, the applicant
says they do not remember what happened.
After further development, the applicant remembers that they used the entire $3,100
of the EIP funds they had saved to purchase shares in a mutual fund in October of
2022. After the mutual fund value fell sharply in 2023, they sold all their shares
in May 2023 and deposited the funds back into their savings account. The technician
documents a Report of Contact with the applicant’s allegations about how the EIP funds
were saved and spent and counts the balance in the bank account as a resource effective
with the December 2023 application month. Per SI 01130.620, only unspent assistance is permanently excluded from resources; the use of the funds
to purchase the mutual fund(s) constitutes expenditure. Purchasing shares in a mutual
fund entails buying an ownership stake in the investments held by the mutual fund
(see SI 01140.230).