Disability Income; Representative Payee and Credit Repair

[Lucid08]

Hi again all!

My brother was just awarded his disability determination at a hearing in early december. He will be getting monthly disability payments as a result beginning in early February. Due to the nature of his disability I was setup as his "representative payee", meaning that his disability checks will be made out to me with him listed on the check as beneficiary.

Due to his condition there are several unpaid medical bills as he was unable to get insurance coverage. I would like to begin repairing his credit file by setting up a plan of repayment for the outstanding balances on the medical bills he has, but I have no idea how to go about getting somethig in writing or on record that says that I am his representative for credit and legal matters so I can DV these collection agencies on his behalf.

Would a simple power of attorney suffice? Would I need to send a copy of of the POA with each communication I sent?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[MattH]

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@Lucid08 wrote:

Hi again all!

My brother was just awarded his disability determination at a hearing in early december. He will be getting monthly disability payments as a result beginning in early February. Due to the nature of his disability I was setup as his "representative payee", meaning that his disability checks will be made out to me with him listed on the check as beneficiary.

Due to his condition there are several unpaid medical bills as he was unable to get insurance coverage. I would like to begin repairing his credit file by setting up a plan of repayment for the outstanding balances on the medical bills he has, but I have no idea how to go about getting somethig in writing or on record that says that I am his representative for credit and legal matters so I can DV these collection agencies on his behalf.

Would a simple power of attorney suffice? Would I need to send a copy of of the POA with each communication I sent?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

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A Power of Attorney should work, and you probably will need to send some documentation of that to creditors.

Be extremely careful how you handle the medical debt; google "HIPAA process" and "HIPPAA process" and read the hits with close attention, doing it wrong can greatly reduce the leverage you have to clean up his credit.

A few hours of a good lawyer's time would probably save you more than they would cost; in this context "good lawyer" means among other things that he or she can give you a clear explanation of the HIPPAA process, FCRA, and FDCPA (run away from one who does not know about these matters!).

Message Edited by MattH on 01-10-2010 02:53 PM

[Lucid08]

Thanks for the reply, MattH.

I have a couple more questions if anyone might have some insight:

My brother has never had credit beyond buy-here/pay-here auto dealerships, so the only information on his credit reports are the aforementioned medical bills. I'm wondering how much trouble I might have in getting him some positive credit tradelines established in the form of either secured or unsecured credit cards seeing as his income will be solely disability income for the remainder of his life? Do CC issuers consider or take into account that he is disabled and that someone else is his representative payee and will be paying his bills for him? I'm just thinking ahead with this, as right now the focus will be on satisfying his outstanding medical bill obligations.

Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated.

[MattH]

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@Lucid08 wrote:

Thanks for the reply, MattH.

I have a couple more questions if anyone might have some insight:

My brother has never had credit beyond buy-here/pay-here auto dealerships, so the only information on his credit reports are the aforementioned medical bills. I'm wondering how much trouble I might have in getting him some positive credit tradelines established in the form of either secured or unsecured credit cards seeing as his income will be solely disability income for the remainder of his life? Do CC issuers consider or take into account that he is disabled and that someone else is his representative payee and will be paying his bills for him? I'm just thinking ahead with this, as right now the focus will be on satisfying his outstanding medical bill obligations.

Any thoughts or input is greatly appreciated.

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With that history, secured cards might indeed be one option.  Another might be making your brother an authorized user on one of your accounts if you have good credit and are willing to allow this.

But I would suggest consulting a lawyer and/or a fee-only financial planner, as there are probably some larger issues than FICO scores here.