According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 61 million adults in the United States live with a disability. Many people with disabilities get support from family members or professionals in managing their finances — whether it’s to preserve eligibility for means-tested benefits or because they benefit from supported decision making in their day-to-day spending.

At True Link, we understand that helping loved ones living with a disability manage their finances can be challenging. We specialize in providing expert financial services and solutions, like the True Link Visa Card, that helps families protect the finances and independence of the people they support. Below we’ll look at the many benefits of using a True Link Visa Card to manage the finances of someone in your life who is living with a disability.

Help Give Financial Independence and Keep Track of Spending

Research has shown that preserving a person’s financial independence is critical to helping them live a happier and healthier life. However, when managing the finances of a loved one with a disability, many families may encounter challenges in finding the right balance between wanting to help a loved one in any way they can while keeping their best interest in mind. To help with this, families can benefit from financial resources, guidance, and easy-to-use financial tools that enable them to protect the finances of their loved ones while giving them the independence to make purchases on their own.

The True Link Visa Card can be a great alternative to traditional debit cards. True Link Visa Cards are easy to set up and can be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted, helping give loved ones more freedom in their daily life. Using the True Link platform, families can customize spending rules to set where the Visa card works and where it doesn’t, such as preventing a loved one from spending at high-risk merchants or store types, to help protect spending, help protect against fraud, and help maintain benefits eligibility. They can also view transaction histories to keep track of spending and help assist in budgeting, and stay updated on where a loved one makes purchases by receiving real-time alerts via email or text¹. These financial management tools not only help protect those living with a disability from scams or fraud, but enhance their overall quality of life by providing them with more financial freedom and independence.

Families Can Set Custom Spending Rules for Their Loved One

Simple daily transactions like buying groceries or paying for a bus pass are essential to your loved one’s financial autonomy. True Link's online platform and Spending Monitor allows the account administrator (who may be a parent, relative, friend, or professional) to set up custom spending guidelines that can help protect their loved one and assist in financial decision-making as they spend money in their daily lives. Account administrators can easily adjust Visa card spending settings to allow or block certain spending categories, such as giving a loved one the flexibility to spend at a pharmacy, but preventing purchases with potentially risky sources, such as telemarketers.  You can set a Visa card to block specific vendors by setting spending rules such as "Allow Amazon” or "Block Home Shopping Network." And these settings can also help prevent purchases that may not align with Social Security Administration requirements for benefits eligibility in certain cases, such as spending on groceries.

Help Prevent Risky Purchases and Cash Withdrawals

According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2021, Consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to fraud. As a result, many family's top concern is protecting their loved ones from financial scams. True Link's Scamwatch™ helps block potentially predatory merchants by using algorithms to spot trending financial scams and preemptively blocks payments to potentially predatory merchants and businesses. A big concern for families managing the spending of others is access to cash, as using cash can potentially lead to risky spending and difficulties in tracking where purchases are being made. Family members who manage a True Link Visa Card for a loved one can use settings to block direct access to cash in various ways, including preventing cash withdrawals at ATMs, blocking cash-back at time of purchase, and setting daily or monthly cash withdrawal limits.

Help Protect Public Benefits Eligibility

The True Link Visa Card is a debit card that helps those living with a disability make everyday purchases while helping protect benefits eligibility for public benefits programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Supplemental Disability Income (SSD). Custom spending rules set by an account administrator can help protect a loved one living with a disability from unintentionally making purchases that could jeopardize eligibility for important public benefits (e.g., food purchases). The True Link Visa Card also helps make managing spending easier from a trust or Special Needs Trust. In fact, The Social Security Administration² provides guidelines in the Program Operations Manual System (POMS)³ for using the True Link Visa Card to make disbursements from Special Needs trusts, helping families feel more confident and comfortable using True Link Visa Cards when managing the finances of their loved ones.

Help Manage Money and Get Spending Alerts

When managing the finances of a person living with a disability, it’s important to always keep track of daily spending as well as check on their full transaction history periodically. True Link’s Spending Monitor gives families a way to monitor where and when a True Link Visa Card is used, and real-time alerts via email or text help families stay informed of their loved one’s daily spending. Alerts can help notify you of any suspicious spending activities or purchases, either through real-time notifications or as a daily digest of Visa card activity. Account administrators can also view their loved one’s spending history, which provides a detailed view of all transactions and possible spending trends. This type of detailed spending information can help with creating budgets as well. And adding caregivers or additional family members to account alerts so they can receive spending notifications is easy, helping assure that everyone who is responsible for care can stay in the loop.

Funding from a Checking Account or Social Security Direct Deposit

Instead of depending on cash, which is hard to track, and checks, which can be a hassle to prepare, family members can easily send money and fund their loved one’s True Link Visa Card via True Link's online dashboard. Transferring money to a Visa card can be done entirely online and from anywhere — either through one-time transfers (which can be helpful in case of emergencies) or by setting up recurring transfers to create a more routine funding schedule. Funding can come from various sources depending on the situation, such as monthly Social Security payments, existing bank accounts, directly from a Special Needs Trust, or other outside sources. Families who set up the low balance feature will also receive a notification when an account balance is running low on funds so they can be confident their loved ones will continuously have access to funds.

Getting Started With the True Link Visa Card

The True Link Visa Card is a convenient way for families to help give their loved one’s who live with a disability an easier way to make purchases in their everyday lives, while offering families a better way to manage their finances and help protect them. It helps give them the financial independence to make transactions on their own for things they enjoy, while helping keep them protected with the Visa card’s customizable spending settings, cash withdrawal limits, and real-time alerts.

Looking for a way to help protect your loved one’s finances while helping make your life less complicated? The fastest and easiest way for families and their loved ones with disabilities to get started with a True Link Visa Card is to order a card online today.

‍

‍

‍

^{1Text notifications may be subject to additional charges/fees from your carrier.}

^{2 Not associated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency}

^{3 Learn more at truelinkfinancial.com/compliance}