CLAIMS HANDBOOK - Department of Human Services

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BENEFIT RECOVERY (CLAIMS) HANDBOOK Manual payments may be received as: • Lump Sum Payments Any single, one time significant amount of money paid by the customer. The payment may or may not pay off the claim. The customer may designate to which program to post the payment. The OFI case may be active or closed. • Installment Payments Monthly payments agreed on by the customer and the agency. Considering the AU’s income and resources and the amount of the debt, the agency negotiates with the debtor to determine what the AU can reasonably be expected to pay. Payments must allow for repayment in full within 36 months for agency errors or for inadvertent household errors. The repayment agreement reflects the negotiated amount. Manual payments are posted using source code P. For AE and IHE claims, re-negotiate the Repayment Agreement if a financial change occurs. An IPV agreement must not be re-negotiated without contact with OPIC. DO NOT renegotiate a payment for a lower amount. Advise the customer to continue to make regular monthly payments for a lesser amount and to resume paying the previously agreed to amount as soon as possible. If multiple claims exist in the same program, SUCCESS will assign the payment in a priority order: o IPV claims, oldest to newest o IHE claims, oldest to newest o AE claims, oldest to newest The debtor may designate posting a manual payment to a particular program. If claims exist in multiple programs and no designation is made, the payment must be divided by pro rata share, as follows: 1. Total the current balance owed in each program. 2. Determine the percentage of each program debt. 3. Use the percentage to divide the payment and post accordingly. Example: Customer mails payment of $100 without designation. Total debt for TANF = $400 (400/1200 = 33%) Post $33 to TANF claim Total debt for FS = $800 (800/1200 = 67%) Post $67 to FS claim $1200 Rev December ‘10 22
BENEFIT RECOVERY (CLAIMS) HANDBOOK • Court Ordered Payments IPV claims with type “F” are paid through the court. Claims should remain in OP or RP status – do not suspend. Benefit reduction does not occur on “F” type claims, but underpayment offset may. F type claims that are delinquent are subject to federal and state offsets. The payment amount is negotiated through the judicial system. The payments will be sent to the county DFCS office for posting. Some probation offices combine payments for multiple debtors into one check. Court ordered payments are posted using source code Y. 1. Review the payment history at least quarterly. 2. Contact probation if payments are not being received. 3. Notify the probation office of a new balance when payments are received from another source. 4. Change the claim type from “F” to “L” and update the recovery mode after the probationary period ends if a balance remains. Notify the Claims / Collections Unit if the claim type is changed. Benefit Reduction All claims in active cases, except those coded “F”,are recouped automatically via benefit reduction. The amount deducted is based on a formula programmed in SUCCESS. The customer may choose to have a higher amount recouped than the formula amount. Initial monthly benefits and monthly benefits less than $10 are not subject to benefit reduction. In TANF Work Supplementation cases, benefit reduction does not occur if coded correctly. Suspend the claim balance to ensure that the employer receives the entire monthly TANF benefit and notices to the customer are correct. Refer to the TANF policy manual for additional information. If a customer with a claim applies as a payee, a new case number should be assigned to prevent benefit reduction. A debt that originally occurred when the liable adult was included in an AU cannot be collected via grant reduction using benefits issued to a payee. A hardship exemption may be granted, if requested by the TANF AU, for up to two months, with supervisory approval. Suspend collection. Hardship may be granted only once in the life of a claim. Hardship exemption for court adjudicated IPV claims may be granted only with court approval. There is no hardship exemption allowed for FS claims. Rev December ‘10 23
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CLAIMS HANDBOOK - Department of Human Services

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