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veteran7796

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Everything posted by veteran7796

  1. Finally was able to get into e-benefits docs that DO show 10% increase effective 5/31/2011.
  2. CLAIM COMPLETE: Increase to 40% overall. Now I can appeal for my PTSD!! My new AB8 shows effective date of Jan 1st 2014...I assume this is the last update for the award amount and not my actual effective date, right? My VSO said that since it was a CUE they put my effective date back to 5/31/2011 (my initial claim date). If so, I am due backpay from that date.
  3. Tired Coastie, I did send them in. But, the whole system is just backlogged. Even so, the VA is kicking the can down the road on a fix for the backlogs. Even the backlogs have backlogs and so on. As for my finances, this year and last was a perfect storm. I was keeping my head above water by utilizing the Post 9-11 GI Bill and getting a housing stipend. But I graduated and that cut off about $560.00 per month. I dont make much in my federal job ($600 a week after deductions)and raising three boys on that is difficult enough. Anyway, Obama froze federal pay for all workers for 3 years and this year we only got a 1% pay raise which gave me an extra $8 per payday on my check. However, combine that with my property tax increase this year of $300.00, my healthcare premiums went up by $15.00 a payday and the Social Security Tax Relief expired in January which cost me $70.00 per month plus general cost of living. All in all, my costs have increased about $125.00 per month while my check shrank by $70.00. So that's a $200.00 per month net loss. It makes everything worse when you're desperate for relief too.
  4. Yeah, that would be a bit messed up. It does baffle me how every case is different from one to the next even if claims are similar in the number and type of contentions and filing date. For instance, two claims for PTSD get completed on the same exact day and one gets paid within 2 days while the other sits for 6 weeks before payment. I think it comes down to what the VA rep handling your case is willing to get done that day, month, year.
  5. Back to Prep for Notification...so a little progress.
  6. Carlie, I did. My utilities have been shut off 3 times in the past 90 days (gas and electric). Im also well over 30 days late on my mortgage and of course, every other bill. 2014 has been a very bad year.
  7. I know that it does. I've been working for the federal government for almost 20 years (8 years with the Bureau of Prisons). Im just speaking from my experience that if we have 5 working days to get something filed or input into a database, it better be done. Once Program Review time comes around, you will fail audit and be held accountable. Many "policies" contain MUST, SHALL and WILL therefore they are mandatory. When I was Quality Assurance these were direct write ups and could garner administrative action and most times they did. As I said before, if I were to allow a contract to expire before completing all the required paperwork, I would be on the street without pay for 3 days...no question. The VA should be held to the same standard and it appears they are not.
  8. Yeah I know. It just didn't help my appeal evidence though (the foia request). One more question. I submitted info to my vso for financial hardship and the va shows it was received. Does it really help expedite your claim?
  9. No I requested the increase because my 1 year appeal date was nearing and the VA never did anything with my FOIA request to get my records for the appeal.
  10. Exactly. Lol. Once I requested the increase they noticed the error. After that I'll work on the ptsd claim.
  11. No...there there is nothing wrong. I filed my initial claim 5/31/2011....it took until October 2012 to get a C&P exam.
  12. Carlie, The rater I spoke to and my VSO both said the notes on the acct reflect that my inital rating for my neck should have been rated atl10%. Paraphrase: "Due to a Clear and Unmistakable Error the rating for neck injury is increased from 0 to 10% due to range of motion was limited to x amount of degrees during C&P examination....new rating is effective to 5/31/2011. In addition, the rater said they absolutely have 5 working days to promulgate the rating once a decision has been made or they are in violation of policy. As a current federal employee I know that if I were to fail to get certification before a contract expires I would absolutely get paperwork or a day on the street without pay. My mother has worked for the VA for over 30 years (unfortunately not in the compensation arena) and she gives me a very real scenario of what occurs. Its unfortunate.
  13. Carlie, Thanks for the replies. I know timelines vary no doubt. But, if policy is in effect, why is the VA not held accountable for violating that policy by weeks, months or years? Ive been trying to get approved for my neck for 3 and a half years now and come to find out, the delay is a CUE made by the VA. I also understand others have had it worse while others fare better. But, there needs to be more transparency from the VA to the veteran in terms of their claim and where it stands. If the VA is saying average times for a FDC claim are 125 days for a specific RO, yet the real #'s reflect 12 months to 2 years then you have a great disparity and someone is cooking the books to make it look good. My initial claim took over 2 years for 1 contention to get approved and they messed it up so bad it is just laughable. I respect and value your input and you certainly know much more about the VA process than I do. I just dont see why policy is in effect if it is broken 95% of the time. LOL!! Might as well do away with it and get real..."our goal is 125 days for claims, however, 90% of our claims take exceedingly longer than that and most are not complete within 18 months". At least I could respect that honesty. LOL!!
  14. carlie, I definitely understand that. Yet, it was explained to me that the VSO is supposed to review and concur the decision within a set amount of time and apparently records show that did not happen. Now, as Veldrina explained, her instructions were they had a week and if the VSO didnt review, they moved on. Perhaps Waco doesnt follow that policy or just hasnt checked up on it. At any rate, the IRIS response I got pretty much confirmed what the VSO and rater I spoke to said and that is a decision has been made on my claim. They just have a backlog of claims that are complete and just need processed. Could you provide any further insight on what the actual "promulgation" phase consists of?
  15. Well, I am appealing my PTSD on the grounds that my FOIA request wasnt processed at all, thus, leaving me with the inability to properly appeal. As for my records, my VSO didnt or couldnt specify. But, the VA NEVER contacted me to tell me how to get them, where they were or why my claim wasnt processed. It still sits in CLAIM RECEIVED a year later. It's been 3 1/2 years total and the whole process has been a complete mess. But, in terms of my claim for increase on my neck, my patience is thin because things are so bad. I actually got my 30% regular pay this morning in my checking account and used it to turn both my electric and gas back on (so Im broke again). My electric has been shut off 3 times in the past 90 days and each time they charge me more for a deposit and of course reconnection fees. I just cant catch up and the backpay would catch me up, eliminate two bills AND increase my monthly income to keep my head above water. I'd be back in regular form very quickly. As I said, Im a single father with 3 boys and no child support and I make about $600 a week after taxes. Not bad money, but certainly not great and very hard to feed 3 teen boys on that. I filed for financial hardship and my VSO submitted it, but it has done nothing to expedite the process.
  16. Update: But nothing in terms of movement. My VSO said my FOIA Claim was never processed because my records were "transferred". At any rate, the non-response from the VA on my FOIA really left me completely unable to do a solid appeal for my claim. I was actually going to appeal both my neck and PTSD, but my PTSD they denied service connection for, which, according to the rater at the other RO, is also a CUE based on their opinion. Given I am a Spec Ops combat veteran, with campaign medals and badges for OIF/OEF and many other missions and still was denied and the VA diagnosed me with anxiety/panic disorders which was "at least as likely as not" caused by my service...but that's another story. So, I simply filed for an increase on my neck right before the 1 year deadline to ensure I got back pay to the initial effective date since my FOIA was and still is completely ignored. Had my FOIA been processed, I probably could have filed a more detailed appeal for both contentions. Lastly, IRIS finally wrote me back with a detailed response. The inquiry stated that YES, a decision HAS been made on my claim as of July 28th and its waiting processing. This phase normally takes about 16 days (as you can see we are at 30 days as of now, LOL!!). It also said that there is a backlog on FDC claims in Waco and then another backlog on finalizing claims already rated!! So, in other words, the backlog has a backlog. Go figure. So, I sit and wait. I just wish I could screw up as much as the VA does and still not get reprimanded or demoted at my job.
  17. Im also hoping that I get lucky like others have and a deposit just shows up in my account before e-bennies gets updated or the BBE shows up in the mail. However, from my experience with Waco, my e-bennies updates have been dead on. I knew my claim was completed and what my % was in E-benefits before the BBE showed up in the mail.
  18. I've never received a response from IRIS at all. In fact, my experience at Waco seems to differ dramatically from veryone elses experience with the VA...LOL!!
  19. rootbeer22, I get what you are saying and I understand the red tape that has to be sifted through. However, this is a claim for an increase on a single contention I KNEW they messed up on. My initial claim fell into the group last year where they tried to eradicate the backlog. It took them well over 2 years to do my initial claim!! In the process, they made a lot of mistakes. All said and done, because I had to pay back my separation pay, I didnt start receiving a check until last month...LOL!! So, IF the VA hadnt made the CUE, I would have actually started getting paid $683.00 a month over a year ago which really would have helped my financial situation. The other things to consider are that this increase was a Fully Developed Claim AND a financial hardship AND it was a CUE made by the VA. In addition, they left me with no ammunition to start an appeal because they STILL have never responded to my FOIA/Privacy Act Request from a year ago which would have helped me in my appeal process. Instead, my FOIA Request still sits in CLAIM RECEIVED well over a year past my 1 year appeal deadline. It's just frustration that they screwed it up bad from day one and when I tried to appeal, they left me in the dark and now drag their feet on the increase too.
  20. According to my VSO and the rater I spoke to, the database shows the increase from 0-10% and the effective date back to 5-31-2011 is already "rated" and "granted" as they put it. The rater seems to think my VSO is the one not doing their job in getting it pushed through. I have to agree considering that the rater I spoke to is under the firm impression that if my claim were at thier RO, based on what they see in the database, it could and would be completed by the end of the day. I guess it is waiting on a single signature to get it all done since it was a CUE. But, again, from what the rater told me, it could be done today. So, Im perplexed. All in all, it just upsets me more that they deliberately put it into a false status on e-bennies to justify putting it off. Why am I in Prep For Decision when a decision has already been made a month ago? I mean the claim made it all the way to Prep for Notification then got pushed back to ROE and now is Prep for Decision. Based on the raters mindset I should be in Prep for Notification...if not COMPLETE.
  21. Good Morning, I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a long term (13 year employee) VA rater on a personal level who is outside of my RO in another state. The rater seemed to be appalled at how my RO in Waco has handled both my claim and many other claims in this region. The rater informed me it is written verbatim in VA policy that once a rating decision has been made and granted, the VA has exactly 5 working days to "promulgate" the claim, finalize it and pay the veteran. Has anyone else heard this? I ask because both my VSO and this rater looked at my info and said my claim is already rated, it just needs to finalize. The thing is, they rated my claim and granted it over a month ago...and it's just sitting there. The rater said it could be done "today" if they wanted and there is no excuse after a decision has been made and approved for it to sit for another month...let alone another week. However, my VSO who works at the RO in Waco just told me although my claim is rated, I should expect another 60 days before they can process it. I told the rater what my VSO said and the rater said that was absolutely absurd and that the VSO should have already reviewed it in (VBMS?), sent it back and have it processed right away. No excuse. Any thoughts?
  22. SSG O, It was a favor from a friend of a close friend. I swore not give out the number because that person would obvisouly be inundated with calls. For the record, there is nothing this person can "do" for me so to speak in terms of getting me a better or favorable decision because they arent handling my claim and it isnt even in the same state. All the call did was give me specific information about what is actually going on with my claim and it was reassurance...nothing more.
  23. Yeah, mine keeps going back and forth even though my VSO said a decision has already been made and he read the notes on my claim. In addition, I spoke to a rater who confirmed the same thing. However, they are still reviewing something. Im hoping they are just looking at everything to see if anything else needs increased (yeah right). But, that actually isnt too far off because of the recent VA issues. Two people at my job (vets) received calls from the VA without even having filed anything and were informed their cases were being looked over and they scheduled them for exams. So...who knows?
  24. Back to Prep for Decision on Friday afternoon. This happened on my initial claim too. Once I made a call, miraculously my status changed on e-benefits. You have to wonder if they do it just to shut you up. But, hey, I'll take any movement.
  25. Update: So, I worked some inside magic from a friend and spoke to a rater at a VA RO from another state who deals directly with disability claims...they looked up my case for me. Anyhow, a decision HAS been made on my case and was rated over two weeks ago for my increase. Neck has gone 0-10% and is dated effective back to 5/31/2011 due to a CUE. I WILL get retro back to that date for 10% up to October 2012 and then the difference between 30-40% w/ dependents from October 2012 to present. The problem is the case is just sitting there in ROE. The rater said that my claim is only waiting to be "promulgated" (signed and paid) and nothing is actually being reviewed. According to the rater, per VA policy they only have X amount of working days to complete (promulgate) the claim once it is rated not to exceed 15 days (may have been 5 working days, cant remember). At any rate, the rater said Waco is hands down one of the worst and is referred to as (Whacko) by the rest of the VA. They did take over 2 1/2 years to complete my initial claim for 3 contentions. But, from the raters perspective, they merely stuck my case in ROE to give it a status so they can "deal with it later" and that it is "totally unacceptable", In addition the rater sais that its a very fast process from this point so they have "no idea" why Waco hasnt just finished it. Now, all this information is new to me in terms of "working days" to finalize a claim after it has been rated. But, if this is the case, it's pretty upsetting that they can just "sign it and pay me", yet they are just letting it sit there.
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