Social Security Administration Form # Omb# 0960 0007: Fill & Download for Free

SSDI - Not unless you owe the Federal Govt. money, such as taxes or student loans, also child support obligations.SSI - Yes. There is an agreement with the state, although you won’t find it even if you look, that if you receive Medicaid or Food Stamps, they can look into your bank accounts. This is besides the SSI, but can’t be garnished.You also have limits on SSI on your asset values, it varies by state, but most states the limit is $2,000 held in a bank account, especially if you use Medicaid or Food Stamps. SSDI = no limits.But don’t be fooled with SSI. States have something called “Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP)”, please Google. This is essentially a state-run, full-time collection agency looking for you to abuse a state program. They can and do look at your bank accounts.I had Medicaid and Food Stamps. My DHS worker messed up my Food Stamp amount. 3 years later, I got called in to a DHS office, but it wasn’t them, it was the MERP jerks, threatening to have me arrested for over-payment of Food Stamps. It was DHS’s fault, but they do not care, at all. Their office at me is in a large building, shared with the County Police. The guy opened the door, pointed at the Officers, and said “I’m going to have you arrested for STEALING from the state of Michigan.” Yep. The individuals appear to actually work on Commission for whatever they recover, I got put into a payment plan, but had I known, I’d not have agreed to it because the Police were not going to arrest me. It’s an effective scare tactic. They are a bully collection agency approved by the govt. and they do whatever they want, inc. the ability to see your bank accounts.

I read through several answers here and have seen a lot of opinions based on misunderstandings about how things work. This is because a number of individuals and groups have put forth false narratives about how government finances and monetary policy work. These narratives are typically based on either misunderstandings or ideological viewpoints that people want to promote.So I say take the various answers with a grain of salt.Now, to your question. The government has borrowed about $22 trillion from various sources ranging from individuals with savings bonds to banks with surplus cash to corporations seeking to invest surplus cash to social security and medicare surpluses to foreign governments with excess dollars they want to store in a safe place. In this sense, the government acts like a large bank. The dollars are not just created arbitrarily. There are complex rules in place because arbitrary generation of dollars would devalue the dollar and result in rampant inflation. (Many people fail to understand this and seem to believe that money is just generated when needed. Not true.)The portion of that $22 trillion that has been borrowed from the social security and medicare surplusses will vary each year and has been declining recently because those surplusses are being spent down due to longer life expectancies and the relatively large number of retiring baby boomers.The total of both surplusses is expected to reach 0 within ten years and any number you are quoted today will likely be at least 10% lower next year,A key point is that it is NOT a problem that the government has “borrowed” this money from the social security and medicare surplusses. They could easily borrow it elsewhere if needed. The real problems are these:The surplusses are declining and need to be fixed. This will require raising taxes and/or lowering benefits.The government spends too much money relative to the tax revenue it takes in and things have gotten a lot worse in the past year due to the recent tax cuts. Thus the total debt is too big.3. A compounding problem is that the government includes the social security and medicare surplusses as positives when it computes the budget deficit each year, making the deficits look a lot lower than they really are. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have been willing to change this deceptice practice.Politicians love to cut taxes and increase government programs. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is in where they prefer to spend and whose taxes they prefer to cut the most. Republicans typically want to spend money on things like border walls, anti-drug programs, and military spending whereas Democrats typically want to spend money on anti-poverty programs, education programs, and medical care. Republicans typically want low taxes for the rich whereas Democrats typically want low taxes for the poor. Both act like parents giving their children candy and ice cream instead of healthy meals. And we voters lap up the goodies and don’t vote for the responsible politicians.

Cold call? Not that I’ve ever heard of. They will send you snail mail. And it will be pretty identifiable as from the SSA. But 99.999999% of calls claiming to be from Social Security are scammers. If they call ask who they are, what their extension is, what department they are with and ask for their supervisors name. If at any point they start threatening, cajoling or back pedalling, trying to guilt you or anything other than answering your questions promptly and courteously? Tell them bluntly. “I believe you are a scammer, and your reluctance to give me the basic required information to identify you as a legitimate representative of the Social Security Administration proves it.” Then hang up.If you have a phone number that claims to be from them? Do not call it, instead get their number off of the .gov site and call that number, work through the menu and find a real person and tell them you are concerned you’ve been contacted by a scammer and give them the number, cause of the call and so on and have them check it out for you. They are aware of the massive numbers of scammers impersonating them and will do all in their power to help.