A person responsible for a claim may request a reduction (compromise) on the amount owed. Claims compromises can be requested verbally or in writing by one of the adult members responsible for the claim or their authorized representative.

For information on how to post payments to a compromised claim, see TEMP Manual TE02.09.46 (Compromising a Claim).


ELIGIBILITY FOR CLAIMS REDUCTION

To be eligible for a claim reduction, all of the following must be met:

●	The person requesting a reduction must have an active case associated with the claim.
●	The unit’s expenses must be more than 50% of the unit’s gross income. Use the income and expenses already determined in the budget in the request month.
●	The unit must include at least one elderly and/or disabled unit member. The disabled unit member may be an adult or a child. See specific program provisions below to determine disability status.

For the purposes of this policy, “elderly” is defined as someone age 60 or older.

See 0025.12.03 (Overpayments Exempt from Recovery).


CLAIMS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REDUCTION

Claims based on Intentional Program Violation (IPV) or fraud convictions are not eligible for reduction regardless if a responsible adult member is elderly and/or disabled.

Compromise requests will not be considered if there is an active appeal/fair hearing for the same claim. The unit can request a compromise after the appeal/fair hearing process is complete.


CLAIMS ELIGIBLE FOR REDUCTION AND AMOUNT OF REDUCTION

Agency error claims  

●	Claims in which all adult members are elderly and/or disabled will be reduced by 100%.
●	Claims that include an adult member who is elderly and/or disabled, combined with a member who is not elderly and/or disabled will be reduced by 50% of the original payment amount or $720 ($20 per month times 36 months) whichever is less.

Household error claims

●	Claims in which all adult members are elderly and/or disabled will be reduced by 50% of the original amount.

MFIP, DWP, MSA, GA
To determine disability status, see 0010.18.05 (Verifying Disability/Incapacity – Cash).


SNAP
To determine disability status, see category 1 criteria in 0010.18.06 (Verifying Disability/Incapacity – SNAP).

COVID-19 EMERGENCY SNAP (E-SNAP) ALLOTMENTS

Claims that include an emergency SNAP supplement will automatically be reduced by the amount of the emergency allotment. This automatic reduction is applied to the E-SNAP allotment for any household with a claim that includes an emergency allotment. The household does not need to meet the criteria listed above.

CLAIM TERMINATION POLICY

A claim may be terminated, and the claim balance adjusted to 0 when there is no realistic prospect for future recovery. This practice differs from a write off which is an accounting mechanism to remove a claim as an accounts receivable asset even though the claim is retained against the possibility of future recovery. All terminated claims are automatically written off, but claims that are written off are not necessarily terminated.

Terminate claims when:

●	The only responsible debtor for a claim has died and no future recovery actions are available.
	OR
●	The only responsible debtor for a claim has had that debt discharged by federal bankruptcy court in a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 proceeding.
	OR
●	A claim is the sole responsibility of a debtor who resides in a Long Term Care Facility, there is no prognosis for a return to residential living in the community and there is no estate to repay the claim or there are existing commitments to repay higher priority obligations.
	OR
●	Initial notification on a claim occurred at least 10 years previous, there has been no recovery on any of the claims in the debtor’s MAXIS account in the preceding 6 years, criminal restitution is no longer required by district court, there is no docketed judgment and the debt is not certified for Revenue Recapture or the federal Treasury Offset Program (TOP).
	OR
●	The SNAP claim is $25 of less, has no responsible people certified for TOP, and there are no other claims against the household.