96 replies to this topic

[COOL BREEZE]

I just received an IRIS letter stating this-

Dear Mr. Cool Breeze-

Thank you for your inquiry of December 08, 2011.

A review of your records shows that you received a Notification Letter on November 28, 2011. A retroactive payment on December 1, 2011 for $528.00 and a regular payment of $941.00 was received on the same day. The two payments received on December 1, 2011 totaled $1,469.00 and your payment on December 30, 2011 was for $1,479.00. No other retro payments are to be received.

If you have further questions, you may call our toll free number of 800-827-1000 and speak to one of our representatives. You may also write to the Phoenix VA Regional Office, 3333 North Central Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85012, or send us an electronic inquiry through the Internet at https://iris.va.gov.

What the heck? I thought I was waiting for the military retirement to finish there audit, so the VA can pay me 2 years of retro. This is definitely going to my Congressman's office that they are cheating me-this is a Cue claim. How do I go about suing the VA for emotional distress. I am having severe chest pains from this-I'll see what Peggy has to say-someone owes me big time!!
I am not putting up with this *****.

[justrluk]

Did DFAS finish the audit? I'm heading in the same direction, but after reading the DoDI re: recoupment of severance, I sent an email to DFAS (cor_claims@dfas.mil) to see if they'd received my retirement orders, and how they handle what had been recouped by the VA, and how military retirement plays into the mix. I'd send DFAS an email and see what's going on. Maybe they haven't finished yet???

[COOL BREEZE]

They haven't finished. Could take 2-3 months, and then the VA takes even longer to process this as a new claim for compensation retro if entitled. The rep told me to go ahead and forward this to the Congressman-they don't care how they write this. I am entitled to the cdrp, just the VA is treating me like thats all you are getting.
Totally unprofessional and disgusting to receive a letter like that.
And then he wanted to know if I have service organization helping me. Sure-the DAV-I fired them long time ago. That's why I am at 70%-vs 10%. They are a great help!!

[rdawg]

the dav turned me away so I went with the american legion the first time around. I fired them for incompetence and went on my own. if it were up to them I would have nothing and like it.

[Deacon 2011]

OK... you guys have me concerned. I was just awarded IU back dated to Dec. 2010 along with some other things from a claim going back to May of 2010. So, no RETRO should be expected or am I not understanding what you are sharing?

[john999]

You should get IU retro back to your effective date. Probably January 2011 if I understand all the details. Do you owe VA any money?

[Deacon 2011]

No, I don't owe them anything, and I sure could use the retro!

[COOL BREEZE]

My situation is a little different. THis only applies to retired military who also receive VA compensation. The way they process this -

1. You are awarded a new claim(Higher rating 50% or more)
2. The VA pays you the new amount shortly-the difference of what you were getting
3 The VA sends a statement to the military retirement payroll requesting an audit of your pay(time frame 30-60 days)
4. Once this gets back to the VA, they open another claim which has no known time frame to pay you the retro if any.
5. This all falls under the CRDP program which for me now pays over 99% of my military pay-just take 22.00 from my pay which is phased out next year..

[Deacon 2011]

Ok, I'm in the same boat I guess since I am retired military as well. When did this change? Last year I had an increase from 40% to 80% and rec'd retro right away. Right now they only take $5 for VA waiver. Sounds like I might have some more waiting to do???

[COOL BREEZE]

You will have to wait a lot longer. Too many were getting overpaid. So, the procedures have been reversed . 30-60 days after you get paid from the military with the new pay-then they sit on it for a while till they feel like sending the audit to the VA. Then the VA will do the same time till some one lights a fire cracker before you get your retro!

[kubrickbrawlik]

Negilgent and disgusting. This type of thing pisses me off. Does the VA realize they are pissing of hundreds of thousands motivated, sometimes unstable individuals trained to kill? On a serious note keep your head up these bastards really piss me off.

[halos2]

So BOGUS!!

[Chuck75]

Why do you think that the VA was among the first of government agencies to start strict security practices concerning non employees?
(Of course they know who they are aggrivating)

Many years ago, I was given "free access" to the VA's Chicago area RO when I was trying to deal with an education related problem. (Why?)
At the time, I was working at the sole "defense plant" in the area, and showed up in a suit, with all the badges, trappings, etc. Seems that earlier
I had gone to a formal meeting at the plant, and that required wearing all the whistles and bells. (Suit, Military A/C tie tac, flag lapel pin, ID badge etc.)
It was kind of interesting, in that I left the VARO with a hand signed "certificate" instead of the computer generated one that gets mailed whenever the VA gets around to it.

Negilgent and disgusting. This type of thing pisses me off. Does the VA realize they are pissing of hundreds of thousands motivated, sometimes unstable individuals trained to kill? On a serious note keep your head up these bastards really piss me off.

[COOL BREEZE]

After 3 months, My crdp claim for the tax audit by the military retirement has finally been completed and sent back to the VA so they can pay me my retro payment. Now I imagine this will be another 6 months as they have to verify the info, sent this through development again. I guess I have about 10 million Vets ahead of me before I see some $$$$.

[carlie]

I guess I have about 10 million Vets ahead of me before I see some $$$$.

CB - NO - it's down to just under a million :-)
(This is an attempt to help you have a smile)

[COOL BREEZE]

Now I have been told it could be up to one year before I receive my retro. The VA received the audit work sheet back from the military with the 5 figure award.
THe 800# said this is a new claim in development. You must be kidding me. THe claim already was approved, I am already receiving the correct amount.
Please tell me this is not the correct method they now do retro's. Process as a new claim and wait for another year.
Goodness, probably that is why I have been not as active as I wish on this board as I am totally stressed out. Need to have a clear mind to help others.

[Deacon 2011]

Cool,

Have you talked with the folks at DFAS? When we talked about this in the forum about a month ago, I call DFAS and got in touch with one of the auditors in the section formerly known as "VA Retro Pay". She explained the process to me and indicated that all they needed was for one payment to be made with the veterans new CRDP amount, this would trigger the audit and the retro (if any) would be awarded.

Unless she lied to me (and of course that's possible) she did not indicate that retro pay activity would be "actioned" as a new claim.

This is the # I called... if it goes to the retirement pay section, have them transfer you to retro. Hope this helps.

877-327-4457 (then select option 1 or 3)

[COOL BREEZE]

Once this audit is completed(and it has been) it is sent back to the VA to pay me all my back retro. THey send the audit work sheet back to the VA with what the VA should pay me, which is a 5 figure sum.

Now that the VA has it, it sets there and rots till they feel like paying me. It is currently with the VA finance dept.

So far, I have been told this is when I can expect to see my payment.

1. One year.
2. 90 days
3. 45 days
4 1 month
5. 2 weeks
6. There is no time limit when you can expect to be paid.

ALso was told this is now in the development stage. It has to go to the regular process as a new claim.

Before, the VA would just pay your retro right after the claim was done, then send the audit work sheet to DPAS to investigate since you are entitled to CRDP.

Just the thought of going through the same procee with my other claims gives me a severe case of acid reflex!!

So its all depending on the VA now. Perhaps A call to a Senator or Congressman to light of some fire works!!

[Steve G.]

I've been following this as was recently upgraded from 40% to 70% (only a 17 month process). But I'm confused concerning the back and forth to DFAS. Which retro are we talking about, VA or DFAS ? Unless I'm totally mistaken (not unusual) the VA disability (including any retro payments) have nothing to do with my retired pay status and should not require any input from DFAS. I received my new higher disability payment on 1 Feb and would expect the ~17 month retro payments shortly. Or am dreaming ??

Now with the upgrade over 50%, I'm now eligible for CRDP and received that upgrade also on 1 Feb. I would expect my 17 month retirement pay retro payments to have to go through the process you described and don't expect to see anything for some time. But I don't see any reason for the VA to have to audit my DFAS account to compute or pay a VA disability.

Is this correct or am I trying to apply some logic to a bunch of federal bureaucracies ?

As an aside, I'm probably too optimistic, several years ago I had a VA overpayment problem (my fault, a couple of status changes I didn't think to report) and while I was able to resolve that to the VA's satisfaction and repaid the "overpayment", I have never been able to get a refund if the (then) DFAS underpayment that resulted (I was rated at 40% then so all my VA payments were offset from my retired pay). Some local counselor's have advised me that this isn't unusual and the only way they've seen to resolve this issue was to go Congressional.

Thanks for all your input and help.

[Deacon 2011]

I can only share with you what I've experienced and have been informed of by DFAS and VA... In June of 2011 the VA and DFAS began a "combined effort" to audit retro payments issued to retirees due to apparent "overpayments" related to CRDP. In short, the VA now sends payment data to DFAS for them to "scrub" to ensure or validate whether or not the Veteran is owed any retro.

In my case, I received two increases in one year... Feb 2011, from 40% to 80%, retro paid within days of the new decision. In Dec. 2011, awarded TDIU and a bunch of other increases but, due to the new audit controls, no retro YET. This action, from my understanding only applies to retirees.

I was informed that it takes only one payment to "activate" the audit process by establishing "payment history"; afterwards, the information regarding retro (if any) is provided to the VA for payment to the Veteran.

CB was given a series of timelines as to when retro would be paid, I was only informed that the process "would not take long".

I've stressed too much over waiting for my last claim to be completed (467 days), I'm not doing that again, if and when it shows up , it shows up.

[COOL BREEZE]

I just requested an hardship to expediate this claim as it could take the VA several years to do there audit once the military as done theres. I received an iris message back stating do to the many, many claims pending, it could be a while before this process is completed. And-there is no time frame fo them to do so.
So, the good old days of getting an increase and getting a fat deposit shortly afterwards are out the door for us folks in this category.
And even requesting an hardship is not an guarantee they will expediate this. They requested everything but the kitchen sink to be sent in for this.
Not planning to do so. I have established my own time table. From next week to 5 years at the minimum. It could be shorter, or it could be longer.
And, the thought of all those appeals I also have pending, to have to go through the same process will take an additional few years before you see the end result.
I have no more vacation days left-just contemplating the prostate surgury that my private insurance is going to do instead of the VA experimenting on me like a guinea pig next month!!

If you get your retro let me know as you are 1 month ahead of me.

[COOL BREEZE]

Wow!! Still waiting for someone to punch my retro into the computer. How hard can that be!!!!

[Deacon 2011]

Cool,

Other than what you last posted, do you have any indication as to what's happening with your retro?

[COOL BREEZE]

I think they are waiting for either of the following to happen:

1. For the President of the US. to approve my retro
2.. The VA ran out of funds, waiting for next fiscal year
3. My Va retro is going the same route as a new claim-1-3 years processing
4. For me to contact my Congressman
5. To take a road trip to the regional office so I can have a face to face talk
6. For me to pass away so they can quitely hit the delete button on this file.
7.. For hell to freeze over.
8. For someone to put the file in the correct dept.
9. For me to have a heart attack so I can file another claim as a secondary-now bed riddden.
10. For the VA to finally realize that job security by deliberatley delaying claims isn't going to work on this case.
11. Processing the claim in the order received-gee-the audit has been completed,.

[COOL BREEZE]

Today I was informed it takes 2-3 months on a reto claim once it comes back from DPAS. Good luck for those in my situtation.

The disrespectful agent asked if I wanted to know what the claim waiting time was in Phoenix. I advised him I already know and I wasn't calling about that issue.

[Donna Kelley]

My glimmer of hope is starting to fade just a bit. If I am under CDRP already, and if there is an increase will have to go through all these hoops or should I say ping-pongs between the VA and DFAS? I had one more "emergency" than I can handle lately, and I sure could use any extra pay, retro, increase is does not matter, Donna

[COOL BREEZE]

Unfortuantely it will. The Va changed there policy last year where they used to just kicked out the retro and worry about the over payments later. Now this is just like a regular claim. Month after month it is still the same excuses. Do to the back log, in order of claim received ect. Lie after lie after lie.
My CRDP was sent back to the VA on the 19 of January with the amount from DPAS of how much the VA needs to back pay me.
Until now, now no one has answer wjhen that will be.
3 IRIS, 2 messages from the VA, no one knows if it will be 6 months, one year, or even 3 years. I have surgury in a few weeks where I will be out of work for a claim that is on appeal. So yes it would be nice.
There is no time frame for this. They can take as long as it took for my claim to get decided.
I will post when I get mine -if I am still alive by then!!

[Steve G.]

Just a quick update for all -

Today I received my retro CRDP from DFAS. Not as good as the disability retro I'm expecting, but not bad. It will help carry me over while I'm waiting.

1 Feb, 2012 - first increased disability payment amount (on Sep 2010 claim)
5 Mar, 2012 - DFAS payed CRDP retro
VA retro - ???

Still no word from the VA, but I hold out hope! I also still don't understand what the VA needs from DFAS, disability payments don't have anything to do with what I receive from DFAS. If anything, I thought it worked the other way. It seemed to for ratings under 50% where DFAS offsets retirement pay by the amount of the disability payment. See my earlier email re: repayement to the VA of an overpayment by the VA.

Luck and good fortune to all -

Steve G.

[COOL BREEZE]

I was just informed that my claim for retro is now in development. The expected time is 280 days before claim status. What the hell-this is not a claim. They are treating my retro as a claim and after 45 days it is now in development. This was from an agent from the Phoenix office.


I would expect this if I had put in another claim. On second thought, I am going to file a few more claims now. I was planning on waiting till this was done.
Its bad enough I have prostate surgery next week being done from my military insurance Tri-care as all the VA could give me was a handful of pills, and a book to read to self diagnosis myself.
Okay-I think I am done vetting for the day. However those unfortuante folks waiting for there retro as they are retired military are now being , kicked to the side and treated like they just put in a new claim.
Its bad enough you have to wait several years to get a claim decided, appealed, ect, now they put you to the back of the line as if you are filing a claim for the first time-

Edited by COOL BREEZE, 07 March 2012 - 09:48 PM.

[Grey_Mike]

I thought I would chime in on this. Since it is useful for everyone to see how these things track.

I filed my original claim on retirement Jan 2008. I ended up with 40%, I think, which seemed cool at the time, although I thought my PTSD met the criteria for at least 50% and maybe more. When I saw that they gave me 30% for PTSD and the reasons they denied a higher rating were actually diagnosed (verbatim) in the paragraph above by the C&P examiner, I appealed the decision. I also had a number of weird problems that seemed to be related to hypothyroidism, or Gulf War Syndrome, if you can't have hypothyroidism, so I appealed the 10% rating. The PTSD came back fairly quickly at 50% since, although I'm crazy and angry, it wasn't affecting my mental processing. I guess my memory problems and sluggish thought processes and fatigue were due to hypothyroidism. Well, finally, four years later (leaving out the ugly details) the VA has decided I'm really 100% disabled, effective 1 Feb 2008. Payments to be increased on 1 March 2012.

So I received my unofficial notice from the DVA on Feb 3, 2012. On the 17th of Feb, I received my white envelope with the details. On the 18th of Feb I noticed that $2800.00 was deposited to my account from VA Benefits. That amount equates to no figure that I can reasonably determine. I went through the retro process before when they upgraded my PTSD and put me at 60%. That was when DFAS was trying to rectify all the retro payments and were literally years behind. VA cut me a check almost immediately.

ON 1 March, nothing had changed, except the mysterious one time mid month 2800 payment. My regular payment (still 60%) had increased to the Dec 2011 COLA increase amount. Then I received a new RAS from DFAS which changed my offset to $0 and changed to CRDP amount to the full retirement amount (effective 30 March). So far, so good.

Then I called VA to ask them what the 2800 was for. I got a helper who was slightly less familiar with the process than I was. He told me that the 2800 was my retro pay. I said, well, it IS retro pay, but I think the total for 4 years might be a bit more. In the end, he couldn't tell me the accounting behind the amount, so I let it go. Understand that all of us probably got retro payments in March to bring the COLA up to date.

So here we are, I thought I would post this and track it so people could see how it goes.

-Mike

[COOL BREEZE]

Well, they are telling me my retro is in development now after having received it 45 days ago back from dfas. They said the national average to receive my retro is about 280 days. And after the finance dept approves it, I should be getting it within 45 days
A rep said its not fair I should go to the head of the line,I will wait like like everyone else. This is a retro claim with an amount calcuated from DFAS on what they need to pay me, not a new claim.
I am beyond frustrated. For you new folks in my shoes, it will be double the amount of time as getting a claim decided. Once your claim is approved, it will go to DFAS for a few months, back to the VA for another 6-12 months before they decide to deposit the amount.

[COOL BREEZE]

This is a message I got from an IRIS response for my CRDP. I am posting this so others going through this same process my understand how the VA will repond to an inquiry.


This is in response to your inquiry to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) dated March?, 2012.

We are sorry for the incorrect information you may have received from one of our representatives. The audit of your retired pay by your retired pay center (RPC) and the review by VA is not considered a claim, but a review, therefore it does not apply under the same average time frames we provide for claims.

Our records indicate that an audit was completed by your retired pay center (RPC) concerning your VA retroactive compensation payment, which we received on January ? 2012. If your RPC determines the withholdings from your VA compensation should be retroactively adjusted due to CRSC/CRDP eligibility; we will conduct a review, and if we determine a retroactive payment is due, we will process this payment accordingly.
Although we make every attempt to complete actions such as these as quickly as possible, we are sorry we cannot give any timeframe as to when this process will be completed. We generally process actions in the order of receipt, and currently we are experiencing an unusually large backlog. We ask for your continued patience. You will receive notification via U.S. mail once our review has been finalized explaining our decision in detail.

Thank you for contacting us. If you have questions or need additional help with the information in our reply, please respond to this message or see our other contact information below.

Sincerely yours,

Donovan W. Thompson
National IRIS Response Center Manager
sdm

[Steve G.]

Is my understanding of this issue totally incorrect ?

Unless I'm totally missing the point, when a retired vet's disability rating is under 50%, that amount is deducted, dollar for dollar, from that vet's retirement pay. The neccessary information flows from the VA to RPC (DFAS) on the dollar amount. Once the rating is above 50% (possibly/probably due to an increase in the rating, a process that we all know takes from 9 to 90 months), the veteran automatically becomes elegible for CRDP and the only thing the RPC needs to know is that the vet is receiveing a disability payment/rating above 50% so they can deduct the CRDP offset (currently mine is $5.00). Again the neccessary information flows from the VA to RPC. At no time that I am aware of, does the VA adjust disability payments due to any receipt of retirement pay, the adjustment has always been the other way, retired pay is adjusted due to VA payments.

So, again unless I've been misinformed, there are 2 potential retro payment processes and/or amounts. RPC payments due to CRSC/CRDP eligibility and VA payments due to effective disability rates. At least for me, the RPC process seems to have worked well, a change of VA Disabiltity rating was received sometime prior to 13 Jan, 2012, the RPC issued an adjusted retirement statement reflecting CRDP eligibility showing new dollar amounts on 13 Jan, 2012. I actually received both an increased retirement paymeny amount due to being CRDP eligible, and my increased VA disability payment on 1 Feb 2012. On 29 Feb 2012, RPC issued an adjusted statement and gave me a retro payment for my CRDP eligibilty.

To date, since receiving my "yellow" envelope in late Jan, I have received nothing from the VA regarding my retro payment from them. Again, to my understanding, the only factors concerning this payment are the rating level and amount due for that level for each month since my initial filing for an increase. Nothing from the RPC will affect that. This retro payment should be nothing more than a minor accounting function.


With this in mind, the following statement from your IRIS makes no sense and is totally incorrect, I still am not aware of any process for RPC to affect or withhold any amount from VA compensation, it always works the other way, VA compensation affects, and may offset (and effectively be withheld from) RPC payments. Again, potential retro payment should be nothing more than a minor accounting function and be computed and paid promptly.



>>> If your RPC determines the withholdings from your VA compensation should be retroactively adjusted due to CRSC/CRDP eligibility; we will conduct a review, and if we determine a retroactive payment is due, we will process this payment accordingly. <<<


Ain't government bureaucracies wonderful ??

Edited by Steve G., 16 March 2012 - 10:18 AM.

[Grey_Mike]

As an update, if you're following the timeline. I received an updates RAS from DFAS on the 17th of Feb. On the 14th of March, I received, what I imagine to be my DFAS retro payment from 2008. It was actually more than I computed. Of course there are no documents (yet?) to understand what they computed. I also think it is weird that they updated my RAS in Feb but it has never posted. Maybe it will post on 31 Mar.

So, in theory, the audit is in VA's hands now. I dunno.

-Mike

[Grey_Mike]

Steve:

My take on it is this: CRDP is a separate program. So they have to go through and pretend it doesn't exist. In VA's eyes, they still either pay a payment that is less than your retirement, or they pay in lieu of your retirement if it exceeds the retirement amount. DFAS then witholds that part which VA is paying. THEN CRDP is put BACK into your retired pay and sent to you, essentially, separately.

So VA has to notify DFAS because they don't really know what your retirement is. And, don't forget there are disabled retirees who DONT qualify for CRDP, so the rules are still in effect. CRDP is a DFAS program, not VA. So, anyway, VA notifies DFAS who then audits, decides what they owe, or what you owe, and returns that audit to VA, who recently decided they were worried about overpaying people.

VA then audits their account, which, as you pointed out, should be faily simple. But I don't know how VA looks at that, is it just another pay action that goes on a pile, or does someone get excited and handle it specially?

My personal problem is that notices are sent that money is coming before they audit anything, then they make payments without telling you what it applies to. Instead, they should figure all this out with your claim and tell you the answer when they decide notify you of the decision. The longer wait for a decision is better than a promise of money owed and pending....

-Mike

Is my understanding of this issue totally incorrect ?

Unless I'm totally missing the point, when a retired vet's disability rating is under 50%, that amount is deducted, dollar for dollar, from that vet's retirement pay. The neccessary information flows from the VA to RPC (DFAS) on the dollar amount. Once the rating is above 50% (possibly/probably due to an increase in the rating, a process that we all know takes from 9 to 90 months), the veteran automatically becomes elegible for CRDP and the only thing the RPC needs to know is that the vet is receiveing a disability payment/rating above 50% so they can deduct the CRDP offset (currently mine is $5.00). Again the neccessary information flows from the VA to RPC. At no time that I am aware of, does the VA adjust disability payments due to any receipt of retirement pay, the adjustment has always been the other way, retired pay is adjusted due to VA payments.

[COOL BREEZE]

The CRDP program was completely changed last year as to the way you get paid by the VA. To put in a simple statement:

1. You receive an increase from the VA in disability pay and the following applies:

A: You are a retired military member receiving retired pay(20 years)

2.. The VA automatically sends this info to DPAS once a month(if the deadline is missed-it sits in a holding pattern for the next month)
Once DPAS gets this-it is sent for the audit review-which is only done after the next military pay period is completed. (2-3 months)
3. This audit review is sent back to the VA once a month(they go in batches) Miss transfer date, another month go by.
4. Once the VA receives this, it basically sits for 45 days. Then it will go into development for a review.
5. Presently, I have been told it takes 45-90 days before they review it and you get your retro.
6.. If you were retired member with 20 years, with at least 50% disability from the VA, the DPAS only withholds a small amount-for me at 70% it is only 5.00
Keep in mind this will go away I believe its next year, with no more with holding. This was a program where they included VETS in this category with 50 % or more.
7. However, if you receive less than 50% the DPAS will withhold the amount the VA pays you dollar for dollar. You will get the full amount from the VA.

Keep in mind, the VA is still using the excuse that because of the back log, there is no estimate time when you will receive your retro.
In my case, I just faxed a request to expediate mine due to some major property repairs needed. Not sure if it will work, however if you have a good reason, fax a request to your VARO

[Grey_Mike]

Latest on the timeline:

Dfas paid their retro adjustment on the 14th or so. Statement from DFAS on the 17th "explaining" the payment. It didn't really explain anything except to say it was a supplemental CRDP payment. DFAS produced a new RAS in Feb but it never posted on MyPay. As of this morning, a NEW RAS was posted on MyPay and it appears to be correct. Nothing withheld (100%) and the correct CRDP amount based on updated VA disability %. As far as I can tell, it should be done for DFAS.

Everything points to updated VA Comp payment on 31 Mar, we'll see how that goes. So far it has been 35 days since notification of the % increase and DFAS looks to be done, they've paid their retro and VA should at least be on target to pay the increased percentage. I'll keep you posted on any retro action.

-Grey Mike

[COOL BREEZE]

Mine is at an admin review now. It takes a long time to get anything done there.

[Grey_Mike]

I think what they should do is figure out really, what the period is to manage these audits and reviews and then make that the official time line and stick to it. I wouldn't mind if they said, your retro payment will be on 15 July 2012 (well, I would), and then pay me on that date. Rather than secrets, innuendos, and stock answers. They act like they just started this program yesterday. It's almost as if they think if they don't give a clear answer, no one can hold them to it. Instead, they need to step back and figure out how long it should take and then tell people that figure. They have far less credibilty with this smoke and mirrors system, than just admitting how long it will take and why. Besides, they would have fewer phone calls and emails to answer if they just put everyone on a time table.

I dunno. I think most of us are afraid to believe anything until we have it and that someone will figure out a way to keep it from us. Everything is a fight and we sit back waiting for the bad news and imagining how much of a fight it's going to take this time.

Just the thought of what people went through with Agent Orange and Gulf War Syndrome, esp those guys who never lived to see compensation, makes me feel incredibly fortunate.

I don't mind waiting just tell me how long it is going to be. And then deliver it on that day.

-Grey Mike

[COOL BREEZE]

It makes no sense at all how you could have a claim approved, and then wait till hell freezes over to get your back pay. I have heard all the old and new excuses for this issue. You would think once it came back from DPAS it would go straight to the VA payroll so someone can type the amount in on your bank account and be done with it.

Nope. They are using the time guidelines of a new claim and at the same time lying saying it doesn't follow under those guide lines.

I believe they are only supposed to kick out a certain amount of funds per month or quarter, and when that number has been reached, just inform the call center the same-"do to the heavy back log of claims, we are unable to tell you when yours wil be approved. And bla, bla, bla.

And by the way-it took over 2 weeks for a fax to be entered into there system requesting a hardship. Doesn't matter if you mail it in or fax. I was told they receive 10's of thousands of documents per day and with the limited staff they are doing the best they can. Limited staff?

Edited by COOL BREEZE, 23 March 2012 - 06:45 PM.