Citizen's Income / Basic Security Allowance; Applying for a Loan in Certain Acute Emergency Situations

If you receive the citizen’s income, a lump-sum amount is taken into account to cover your standard needs. This lump-sum standard needs allowance covers not only your ongoing expenses but also those that arise irregularly or at long intervals. The amount of the standard needs allowance is determined by the applicable standard needs allowance tier, which depends on your age and family situation.

Standard needs cover the following expenses in particular:

• Food,
• clothing,
• personal hygiene,
• household goods,
• household energy, excluding the portions attributable to heating and hot water production, as well as
• personal needs of daily life, including participation in the social and cultural life of the community.

If, due to special circumstances, you need more money for your daily needs in the short term than the standard allowance provides for your individual case, and you are unable to pay these costs yourself or defer them, the Job Center will grant you an interest-free loan upon application to cover your unavoidable needs.

An unavoidable need exists

• if it cannot be postponed and a loan is therefore unavoidable to prevent an acute emergency, and
• it cannot be expected that you will be able to cover this need with your next benefits intended to meet the standard allowance.

Examples include:

• necessary repairs,
• necessary purchases, such as new winter clothing for growing children,
• the imminent disconnection of the electricity supply—for example, household electricity—due to so-called “new debt,” provided you cannot avert the disconnection in any other way, such as by arranging an installment plan with the utility company,
• theft or loss, as well as
• a fire in your apartment or house.

You must apply for the loan separately and, as a general rule, provide proof of the undeniable need. If you have assets, you must first use them to cover the expenses. Depending on the circumstances, the Jobcenter may also instruct its field staff to assess the need.

The Job Center may also decide to provide you with in-kind benefits instead of cash. In that case, the amount of the loan will correspond exactly to the value of the necessary expenses.

You must use the loan for its intended purpose. The Jobcenter may require proof of this, such as a receipt.

You must repay the loan. If you continue to receive benefits under SGB II in the future, the loan will be deducted monthly from your benefit entitlement:

• For one or more loans: 5 percent of your standard benefit amount for the applicable benefit tier

You will receive a written explanation of how the loan will be offset in your specific case. Repayment begins in the month following the disbursement of the loan.

In order to receive the loan from the Job Center, you must prove that:

• you have an urgent, one-time need that falls under the category of everyday necessities, which are in turn supposed to be covered by the standard benefit,
• you cannot meet this need through the benefit intended for this purpose—that is, the citizen’s allowance—and you have no assets,
• you have no other way to meet this need—for example, through secondhand stores or clothing banks—and,
• the need is undeniable. This applies
  • if you cannot postpone it and
  • you cannot cover the need with the next benefits intended to cover the standard allowance.

To receive the loan, you must apply for it at your Jobcenter. You can also do this online using the digital citizen’s income application.

• If possible, contact your case worker at the Jobcenter.
• Submit an application. You can also submit an informal application. If a form is available, you can obtain it from your local Jobcenter.
• Submit your application along with all supporting documents to your Jobcenter.
• The Job Center will review your application and supporting documents.
• You will receive a notice from the Job Center regarding the decision on your application—that is, whether it was approved or denied.
• Generally, the loan amount will be transferred to your bank account. However, this is usually different in cases such as electricity bill arrears where there is a risk of service disconnection. In such cases, the loan amount is generally transferred directly to your utility company.

The Federal Employment Agency’s (BA) technical guidelines are binding only on those Job Centers that are operated as a joint institution (gE) by the Federal Employment Agency and the local municipal authority—that is, at the municipal or district level. Oversight is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS).

In addition, there are job centers that are operated as authorized local authorities (zkT)—that is, so-called “option municipalities” or municipal job centers. These are subject to oversight by the respective states.

There is no application deadline.

• Required document(s)
  
  • Evidence that an undeniable need exists and the amount of that need, for example
    • a police report of theft,
    • a cost estimate or work order for repairs and/or
    • recent bank statements.

You will not have to pay any costs.