Released March 20, 2009
AUBURN UNIVERSITY, Ala. -- On Feb. 17, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This law provides for a one-time economic recovery payment of $250 to people who get certain types of federal benefits.
The payment will go to individuals who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Railroad Retirement and Veterans benefits. If you are eligible for one of these benefits at any time during the months of November 2008, December 2008 or January 2009, you may be eligible for this one-time payment. To receive payment, your address of record must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa or the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Department of the Treasury will be sending out the one-time payments during May. Social Security will not contact you to request information, and you do not need to contact them about your payment unless you do not receive it by June 4.
Do not provide any personal information to anyone requesting it to process your payment. If you are unsure about the identity of someone claiming to be a Social Security employee, call (800) 772-1213 to verify the call. You may report suspicious activity involving Social Security programs and operations to the Social Security Fraud Hotline at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/oig/hotline or call (800) 269-0271.
Checks will be delivered the same way you receive your benefit check, but will be sent separately from the regular monthly benefit check. Only one check will be sent to each benefit recipient no matter how many types of benefits you receive.
No children under the age of 18 who receive Social Security benefits are eligible. However, children receiving SSI and adult children receiving disability benefits on a parent's record will get a check.
The one-time payment will not count as income for SSI or as earned income when determining eligibility for Social Security disability benefits.
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