Fiduciary or a Representative Payee
A Fiduciary or a Representative Payee is a person or organization who manages money that belongs to someone else. It’s as simple as that. While the title is straight forward, the responsibility has great importance and can be complicated.
The Thom-Boy Project is an organizational Fiduciary and Representative Payee service. We provide a trustworthy program that gives financial management solutions to a variety of clients whose needs are as unique as the individuals we serve. Our service grants peace of mind for clients and their families. The Thom-Boy Project is a licensed and bonded non-profit 501(c)(3) public corporation.
As a Fiduciary and a Representative Payee Organization we can be selected by a client or their family and/or mandated by a number of paying agencies such as:
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The Social Security Administration (SSA)
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The Veterans Administration (VA)
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The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB)
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The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)​
The Payer
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We refer to the paying agencies as the ‘payer’. Each payer can have their own criteria for mandating a Fiduciary or a Representative Payee as well as their own reporting requirements. It is crucial that a Fiduciary or a Representative Payee know the payer’s expectations and adhere to the reporting requirements. Failure to do so can negatively impact the income paid, up to and including the loss of the benefits.
The Beneficiary
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The beneficiary is the payer’s term used for the person who receives the retirement and/or disability income.
There are two types of beneficiaries; first is the person who elects to have a payee, second type is a payer mandated beneficiary.
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An elected beneficiary has a Fiduciary or a Representative Payee service called Direct Bill Pay Program (DBPP). Click here to go directly to the DBPP information.
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A mandated beneficiary is someone who the payer has determined is unable to manage or direct the management of their money. Therefore, they need a payee. Typically, these beneficiaries fall into three categories:
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Minor children
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Legally incompetent adults and
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Adult beneficiaries with mental or physical disabilities
At The Thom-Boy Project the beneficiary is what we call the client. The client is the boss!
Although we adhere to the policies of the payer we work for the client. Our interest is in the client and their well-being.
Care Teams
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As individuals, we all want and try to thrive within our circles. Be it friends, family, coworkers or team mates, each person integrated within society has a circle. For our clients, their circle is referred to as their Care Team.
There is no limit to the number of people within a Care Team and members can be interchangeable. What’s most important is that every client has one. A typical Care Team may include family, friends, neighbors, clergy, a case worker, a mental health professional and so on.
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With the client’s permission, we work cooperatively with their Care Team to offer whole solutions to stabilize and manage their finances in the best possible interest of each client. (Note: The Thom-Boy Project does not provide case management services through the Fiduciary or Representative Payee program.)
The Process
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Once The Thom-Boy Project is authorized by the paying agency to become a client’s Fiduciary or Representative Payee, the agency will send us the client’s funds to be managed on the client’s behalf. (Note: Payments are limited to the client’s available funds.)
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​As a Fiduciary or Representative Payee, it is the responsibility of The Thom-Boy Project to ensure that each client's funds are used for that client only. By law, we must spend a client's benefits to ensure that the "basic needs" are met first. A Payee Manager will meet in person when there are no public health concerns and work with each client to develop a personalized monthly budget. The budget will address the client’s basic needs first and then attend to the client's secondary needs.
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The Money
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As usual, it always comes down to the money. Often referred to as Social Security, retirement, disability, pension, income or money – we use the general industry term of “benefit”.
The Thom-Boy Project will use the client’s benefit(s) in the following order:
1) Basic Needs
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Shelter/Housing
These terms include the basic utilities such as electric or natural gas, water and sewer. It does not include utilities that are considered non-essential such as TV cable or internet.
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Food & Clean drinking water
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2) Personal Needs
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Clothing
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Medical/Dental Needs
These items are those for which a client may be responsible such as items not covered by health insurance.
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3) Secondary Needs
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Client Desires​
This is the category that includes things such as saving for a large
purchase, planning a trip, paying off old debt, etc.
Spending Money
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A common concern for clients who have a Fiduciary or a Representative Payee is the inability to "get their spending money". As a solution, The Thom-Boy Project works with the clients to make their funds more accessible. Whether establishing a bank account or offering a debit card that allows us to load funds, we work with clients so they can access their allotted funds at any time.
Monthly Statements Add Reassurance
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Monthly, each client can elect to receive a statement of their account reflecting benefits, payments, savings and balances. These statements offer a sense of security to clients. They represent the cooperative work between clients and Payee Managers, remove questions of how funds are spent as well as show the incremental steps towards reaching the client's goals.​
A client may have separate funds that are not managed by The Thom-Boy Project. Depending on the type of benefit(s) managed the separate funds may need to be considered when compiling the end of the month statements. As each client has individual needs, we evaluate each situation on a case by case basis to determine if it will be necessary to move separate funds to The Thom-Boy Project to manage on a client's behalf.
Electronic Security
We use the most secure technology designed specifically for safeguarding client’s personal and financial information.
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A client’s personal data is stored on our servers in the cloud. The data is saved through automatic backups in two separate locations within the cloud servers and on two local drives. So in a case where one server would fail, we can always access a client’s account.
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All financial details for each client are stored with 256-bit encryption. This means that for every one bit of accurate data there are 256-bit keys to unlock that one bit of good data. This is one of the most secure encrypting technologies on the market.
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Hardware failure or theft is not going to cripple our ability to work with a client. Because of the cloud and backup drives we will always be ready to serve.
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To add another layer of security, we implement electronic deposits for every client’s benefits and make payments electronically as well for those that elect this method of payment or vendors that will accept it as this is the most secure and guareenteed method . This will eliminate lost checks, mail delays and potential theft or counterfeiting on a client’s account.
Direct Bill Pay Program
The Thom-Boy Project also offers a Direct Bill Pay Program (DBPP).
This service is for a variety of clients:
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Those who winter in the South
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Someone who prefers to have a license and bonded organization to assist aging family and friends
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Anyone who finds the value in reducing mail, freeing up time and having all financial information in one electronic statement
For this service the recipient does not need to be mandated by the paying agency to have a Representative Payee, it is the client’s choice.
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This service is offered on a sliding scale based upon the client’s income. The Thom-Boy Project charges an elected beneficiary 10% of the monthly income managed or $60, whichever is less. This fee will be taken from the beneficiary’s account each month.
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To have a Certified Public Accountant provide these services it could cost you hundreds of dollars.
For a nominal fee we help you:
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Identify and organize your bills
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Pay bills via Online Bill Pay
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Maintain and supply to the client detail records of all transactions
To get started call (971) 704-4588 today! Or
Fee For Service
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For the mandatory Fiduciary or Representative Payee Service, The Thom-Boy Project may charge the allowable fee (as set by the paying agency) per month. This fee will be taken from the beneficiary’s account each month.