Veterans Affairs Payoff

[TNIceWolf]

As some of you may know I am a partially disabled vet. For the past 20 years or so I managed to still be able to work a job and draw a very small compensation check each month from the VA for a 40% disability rating. ( It wasnt much money but I also got 100% medical care for free ). In January of 2016 I had finally had enough of working my tail off to make someone else wealthy so I quit my job and began working on getting my disability claim re evaluated. I knew from conversations with other vets that to improve my odds of winning my claim that I would be in a better position if I could show that i had not been working for at least 1 year. Let me tell you.....that was a long year surviving on just a few hundred bucks a month. In February of 2017 I filed my claim for a re evaluation and a a month later I had a appointment for a ratings review on April 25th. I was seriously worried about the outcome. Any vet can tell you that there are several possible outcomes to such a review including the possibility of having your claim revoked entirely which means losing your compensation and free medical care. I spent a total of about 6 hours that day talking with several specialists about my claim and what had changed over the past 20 years. I returned home that day knowing it was very likely that it would probably take several months for the ratings process to run its course and a decision made. About a week later I found a letter from the VA in my mailbox. To my surprise it contained a decision on my claim. They had approved an increase to a rating of 70% !!!!!
What that means to me is this. First I retain my 100% medical care. Second I now have a guaranteed income per month that is double what I could draw from social security if I worked to full retirement age ( providing the program even exists if I worked that long) . Third good thing is that I am still allowed to work with no penalty for what I earn a year if I choose to. And the fourth thing is that it gave me access to benefits I didnt have before.
So in essence I am now able to call myself retired from the workforce a few weeks short of turning 55 years old. It is a huge relief for me and gives me the added bonus of all the time on my hands I should need to get started back on my old one ton.
Life is funny sometimes. Any of you vets out there fighting for your health care or benefits......Hang in there. You can rarely predict what the VA will do on any given day but sometimes they will shock you with a rapid and fair evaluation.

[Ohiotinkerer]

Didn't know you were a vet so first and foremost thank you....... I do know the BS you guys have to go thru to get something you should be getting without all the hassles so I'm really glad to hear that you got approved first time out. People ask me why I never signed up (I'm a vet also) and I tell them that there are guys like you that need the help worse than me and I don't want to slow down what y'all need with my little problems and I have insurance where I work. Hopefully things will get easier and better with the change in DC.........

[67 bump]

Good for you bud, you vets deserve it and then some. If only more of my money went to vets and not the lazy leaches of society that refuse to do anything constructive or productive.

[Ohiotinkerer]

Good for you bud, you vets deserve it and then some. If only more of my money went to vets and not the lazy leaches of society that refuse to do anything constructive or productive.

[tsherry]

Good for you, and thanks for your service.

Seriously. Those aren't just words.

[crazyhorse]

Mr Wolf, thank you sir for your service.
I am sorry you are disabled.
Happy you got better benefits , maybe you won't have to worry as much.
Thank you again sir for your service so we can have and enjoy our freedom in the greatest country of all, The United States of America.
God Bless You .

[sargentrs]

Congratulations, Charlie! Couldn't have happened to a better guy. and thank you for your service to this great country of ours!

[67mann]

Good for you and thank you for your service!

[MadJoe]

Wow, congrats! Glad to hear the VA is actually working for some people, instead of trying to screw everybody.

My wife and I are veterans, and she's rated at 80%. Unfortunately we got caught up in that "over payment" kerfuffle and have been fighting with them for the past 6 or so months because they claim she was overpaid by almost $9,000 over the past 7 or 8 years. And instead of granting us the hearing we requested when they told us this, so we could explain why she was actually underpaid (by close to $9,000), they went ahead and garnished 100% of her February check without so much as a "here it comes!". Then they were surprised when we called them up in a tizzy about never hearing back about the hearing we requested, oh, and where the bleep is our money? From there they explained if we didn't want to also lose 100% of March's check, we needed to submit an expenses report to see how much we could pay per month along with another request for hearing. So we did. And they garnished $500, informed us this would continue until the debt was paid, and once again ignored our hearing request. If we hadn't just refinanced our house, been allowed to skip March's payment, and had a little bit of equity in the bank, we'd have had a real bad couple months. To which the VA apparently couldn't care any less. So now we're joining the DAV to see if they can advocate for us since going it alone has basically been about as effective as banging our heads against a wall and throwing our money in the gutter.

[TNIceWolf]

Wow, congrats! Glad to hear the VA is actually working for some people, instead of trying to screw everybody.

My wife and I are veterans, and she's rated at 80%. Unfortunately we got caught up in that "over payment" kerfuffle and have been fighting with them for the past 6 or so months because they claim she was overpaid by almost $9,000 over the past 7 or 8 years. And instead of granting us the hearing we requested when they told us this, so we could explain why she was actually underpaid (by close to $9,000), they went ahead and garnished 100% of her February check without so much as a "here it comes!". Then they were surprised when we called them up in a tizzy about never hearing back about the hearing we requested, oh, and where the bleep is our money? From there they explained if we didn't want to also lose 100% of March's check, we needed to submit an expenses report to see how much we could pay per month along with another request for hearing. So we did. And they garnished $500, informed us this would continue until the debt was paid, and once again ignored our hearing request. If we hadn't just refinanced our house, been allowed to skip March's payment, and had a little bit of equity in the bank, we'd have had a real bad couple months. To which the VA apparently couldn't care any less. So now we're joining the DAV to see if they can advocate for us since going it alone has basically been about as effective as banging our heads against a wall and throwing our money in the gutter.

Been there done that. Lost all my pay for 18 months once due to their accounting methods. Which was why I soaked up the first year off work. I did as much research as I could to make sure i was in the best possible position to re file. You might also want to contact the American Legion or the VFW. They are tied into the process in a way and can provide information and contacts you may not be aware of.

[67mann]

I now understand why your MAD Joe....thank you and your wife for your service what a crock of B.S...hope it all works out for you

[Texarado]

My wife and I are veterans, and she's rated at 80%. Unfortunately we got caught up in that "over payment" kerfuffle and have been fighting with them for the past 6 or so months because they claim she was overpaid by almost $9,000 over the past 7 or 8 years. And instead of granting us the hearing we requested when they told us this, so we could explain why she was actually underpaid (by close to $9,000), they went ahead and garnished 100% of her February check without so much as a "here it comes!". Then they were surprised when we called them up in a tizzy about never hearing back about the hearing we requested, oh, and where the bleep is our money? From there they explained if we didn't want to also lose 100% of March's check, we needed to submit an expenses report to see how much we could pay per month along with another request for hearing. So we did. And they garnished $500, informed us this would continue until the debt was paid, and once again ignored our hearing request. If we hadn't just refinanced our house, been allowed to skip March's payment, and had a little bit of equity in the bank, we'd have had a real bad couple months. To which the VA apparently couldn't care any less. So now we're joining the DAV to see if they can advocate for us since going it alone has basically been about as effective as banging our heads against a wall and throwing our money in the gutter.

This makes me so mad that i just want to puke. I am really sad and ashamed that things like this is going on behind our peace loving backs every day. I am a vet also and i thank the good lord for all the sacrifices that has been given by the men and women of this great country, and i believe they should be taken care of a little more than our VA does. We spend billions of dollars going who knows where every day and we can't take care of our vets is shameful to me.
On the flip side it is nice to hear that every once in a while the VA gets it right.

[MadJoe]

I now understand why your MAD Joe....thank you and your wife for your service what a crock of B.S...hope it all works out for you

Ha, not kidding! But seriously, the MadJoe has been in my family since my father had it as his license plate in the '70's ("mad" is the first 3 letters of our last name and "MadJoe" flowed better than "JoeMad" ) he ditched the license plate shortly after driving into a lady's living room and the first thing she did was remark on it instead of panic over having a huge hole in her house and a car sitting on her coffee table. Also the wrecker driver, and the cops that showed up all had something to say about it.

This makes me so mad that i just want to puke. I am really sad and ashamed that things like this is going on behind our peace loving backs every day. I am a vet also and i thank the good lord for all the sacrifices that has been given by the men and women of this great country, and i believe they should be taken care of a little more than our VA does. We spend billions of dollars going who knows where every day and we can't take care of our vets is shameful to me.
On the flip side it is nice to hear that every once in a while the VA gets it right.

Agreed! But there are veterans out there much more in need than my wife and I, so it's good to hear of when they're being taken care of even if we are going through this. Of course, living in MA with Senator Warren, who is on the VA Oversight Committee (or whatever the senate calls it), I'd think there would be some recourse for us here...sadly she's turning out to be more bluster than actual substance it seems.

Been there done that. Lost all my pay for 18 months once due to their accounting methods. Which was why I soaked up the first year off work. I did as much research as I could to make sure i was in the best possible position to re file. You might also want to contact the American Legion or the VFW. They are tied into the process in a way and can provide information and contacts you may not be aware of.

Ouch! That is awful. Glad to hear you weathered it, and thanks for the tips, we've been so focused on the handicapped addition we're building we've let this VA situation slip. I need to get back on it, though.

-Joe