We talk about third party payments on our website, but what does it mean?

A third-party can pay our fees on your behalf. That means that you would not pay for us to help you with whatever problem you are facing with SSA. It would be free for you.

A third party is anyone that has a financial interest in your Social Security Disability approval. Financial interest means that the third party will be rewarded financially if you were to receive lump sum payment for past due disability benefits and ongoing monthly disability payments.

Here is an example:

Your Grandmother Ruth has been sending you $1,200 per month while you are waiting on your Social Security Disability approval. The payments will stop once you start receiving your monthly disability benefits. You will also repay Grandmother Ruth with the lump sum payment that you receive from SSA.

In this example, Grandmother Ruth has a financial interest in your Social Security Disability approval because she will be repaid. It would be in Grandmother Ruth’s best interest for you to be approved as soon as possible. That is why she may opt for third-party services.

However, that is not how third parties are commonly used for Social Security Disability approvals. Usually, it is a long-term disability (LTD) insurance company that is the third-party. LTD insurance is used to provide income when you are too sick to work. LTD plans are helpful because they fill the financial gap between submitting your initial disability application and being approved for benefits.

Obviously, the insurance company wants their LTD clients to be approved for Social Security Disability benefits ASAP, so they enlist our services. Then Disability Experts create a compelling claim of evidence that goes along with the initial application for disability benefits. A complete claim goes through the system faster and that leads to faster approvals.

Now this does not mean that we accept every applicant that an insurance company sends our way. Sometimes those individuals are not eligible, so we send those people back to the insurance company because we only help individuals that are truly eligible for Social Security Disability benefits.

Can I pay for your services so I can get approved faster?

Unfortunately, no. You are the applicant. There are special rules that Social Security Disability Representatives must follow when charging fees to applicants:

• We are not allowed to collect our fees up-front

• We are only paid a fee IF your claim is approved

• SSA allows us to collect 25% of your past-due benefits, up to $7,200

• We can also charge other fees, but they must be approved fees

Those rules prevent me from helping applicants earlier in the process because SSA will not owe the applicant any money. If the applicant is not owed any money, we cannot charge a fee.

However, we cannot simply change the rules because sick individuals are vulnerable and there are a lot of bad people out there. We need these rules to keep you safe.

We need to restructure fees

Those rules are great for protection, but they are also ruining lives. The problem is that SSA receives approximately two million applications per year. They are not staffed to help each applicant with their initial application, so over 60% of those applications are denied.

If SSA is not going to assist applicants with their initial applications, then they need to restructure our fee rules to include our help. SSA already screens us and they deposit our fees into our business accounts, rather than the applicant paying us when they receive their past due disability benefits. Everyone is protected.

I have been advocating for this change for the last four years of my life. Applicants need our help so they receive the benefits they deserve — without waiting years. Just a simple, straight forward process. That is all I want for applicants.

Until then:

• If you have someone in your life that has a financial interest in your claim, please click here schedule a FREE consultation to learn how we can help you.

• If you have requested a hearing or if you have a hearing coming up, please click here to schedule a free consultation to determine if you are eligible for our services.

Did you have a third party assist you with your Social Security Disability application? If so, how did it go?

What do you think about our fees? Are they too high or just right?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.