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Title 7: SNAP Page 16 Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Employees’ Manual Chapter H: Adjustments Collection Action Revised October 11, 2024 Methods of Collecting Payments Methods of Collecting Payments Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.18(g) and 441 IAC 11.5(234) If a person has been referred to DIAL for prosecution through the court system, contact DIAL before accepting any full or partial payment on that claim. DIAL will decide if the payment should be accepted. Document your contact and DIAL’s decision. There are several methods by which payments on claims are collected. These are: ▪ Lump-sum payments. Acceptable methods of lump-sum payments are: • A lump-sum cash payment for the entire claim, if the household is financially able to pay the whole claim at one time. (The household cannot be required to liquidate all of its resources to make this repayment.) • A lump-sum cash payment as partial payment, if the household is financially unable to pay the entire amount of the claim at one time. • A lump-sum payment of SNAP as full or partial payment. ▪ Installments. If the household cannot pay the claim in one lump sum, DIAL negotiates a payment schedule with the household. Payments are accepted in regular installments. Once negotiated, the amount to be repaid each month through installment payments remains unchanged, regardless of changes in the household’s monthly allotment. When the household is currently getting benefits, monthly installment payments must be at least the amount that can be recovered through allotment reduction. The household may use SNAP as full or partial payment of any installment. Either DIAL or the household can initiate renegotiation of the payment schedule if the household’s economic circumstances have changed enough to warrant it. If the household fails to make the full payment, DIAL sends the household a notice to inform the household that: • It may contact DIAL to discuss renegotiation of the payment schedule, and • If it does not either make the overdue payment or contact DIAL to renegotiate the payment schedule, its allotment may be reduced. ▪ Allotment reductions. If the household does not repay the full amount of the claim with a lump sum or negotiate a payment schedule, collection is made through reduction of the household’s SNAP. Allotment reduction could reduce the amount of benefits that a one- or two-member household receives to zero. • For inadvertent household error claims and administrative error claims, the monthly allotment is reduced by 10%, or $10 per month, whichever is more.