SSI-Friendly Banking: The Top 3 Mistakes Families Still Make
- Purple
- 9 minutes ago
- 2 min read
If your family receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI), keeping your finances compliant can feel like walking a tightrope.
The $2,000 asset limit, confusing deposit rules, and lack of guidance from banks make it easy to accidentally trigger a suspension—even if you’re doing everything “right.”
At Purple, we work with hundreds of families who rely on SSI. We’ve seen what goes wrong—and how quickly it can lead to problems with the Social Security Administration (SSA).
In this article, we’ll break down the 3 most common mistakes families make when banking with SSI—and how to avoid them.
1. Using a Regular Checking Account Without Tracking the Asset Limit
The biggest rule with SSI is the $2,000 asset limit ($3,000 for couples). This includes the balance in your bank account, unless it’s in a protected account like an ABLE account or Special Needs Trust.
Most banks:
Don’t warn you if you’re getting close to the limit
Don’t offer tools to track benefit-safe balances
Don’t understand what counts as a “resource”
That means you could lose SSI eligibility just by saving a few hundred dollars too much—without realizing it.
How Purple helps: We’re building features that show your balance against the $2,000 SSI limit and help you move excess funds into an ABLE account (coming soon).
2. Combining SSI Funds With Backpay, Wages, or Other Income
SSI eligibility is based on both income and assets. If you receive:
Backpay from Social Security
Part-time wages
Child support or state-based benefits
…it matters where the funds are deposited and how they’re tracked.
Families often combine these into one account, which can confuse SSA and lead to misreporting. Worse, if the backpay is for a child under 18, the SSA requires a separate dedicated account with restrictions on how the money is spent.
How Purple helps: Purple supports multiple accounts, including rep payee and dedicated accounts, to help keep funds separated and compliant.
3. Not Keeping Documentation for SSA Reviews
Every year, families may face SSI redeterminations or payee reviews. SSA might ask:
How funds were spent
Whether income was reported correctly
Proof of expenses like rent, groceries, or bills
If you’ve lost track of receipts or can’t easily pull your account history, it becomes stressful fast—and you could risk benefit interruptions.
How Purple helps: Purple includes a secure Vault to store SSA letters, receipts, and spending notes, all in one place. It’s built with audits in mind.
Make Your Bank Work With SSI—Not Against It
Traditional banks weren’t designed with SSA rules in mind. Purple is.
We help families:
Stay under the $2,000 asset limit
Keep benefit types separated
Store documents for redeterminations
Prepare for ABLE, SNTs, and rep payee compliance
SSI shouldn’t be a trap—and your bank shouldn’t make it harder.
Purple is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by OMB Bank, Member FDIC. The Purple Mastercard® Debit Card is issued by OMB Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license from Mastercard.