mrstephens11

Hello, I got 2 of my CUEs awarded and 1 denied. I haven't gotten my BBE yet so I'm not sure why they didn't clear the other one. While I got 20% for one and 10% for another, my over all rating didn't change. I'll have to get them to CUE them selves on the effective dates. It feels good to finally be rated for both of my knees after 12 years. I was discharges for bi-lateral chondromalacia and a decade later was award 10% for one knee, and denied service connection for the other. So now I have them both rated and I feel vindicated. Thanks for all the help. I'll post back with more information as it comes to me. Cheers, Stephens

Ok, so I do have a VSR that I don't trust. He told me not to file a NOD when I got my claim awarded and back dated almost 10 years. He didn't want me to "rock the boat". Which I now know would be illegal for the VA to change my award like that just because I filed a NOD. The VA and C&P Examiner had medical records stating bilateral and they had my discharge papers which said the same thing. I had a bad C&P examiner. He told me to my face that since I didn't have an MRI of the right knee in service that he didn't have evidence to service connect. I pointed out to my records about 12 places that it said "bilateral", to which he replied "Yeah, sometimes people just write stuff down." I filed a CUE stating that my knee was service connected and showed the multiple records that said bilateral including my discharge papers. I got a new C&P for the right knee with the VES, the same guy that service connected my left knee. I asked this doctor what he was going to write and he said it would be service connected. I'm almost at the end of this fight and I just need to wait it out I think. The time spent waiting for this will be nothing compared to the total time I've waited so far.

No it's not an FDC, it's a CUE. The CUE was for service connection. They didn't have some medical records in my C-file that I had and it clearly shows service connection. Hell, even the discharge papers show it as the reason for discharge. I sent in copies of the files when I sent in the claim of CUE. I already did a C&P for the CUE, which I thought was a good sign that they thought it was a CUE as well. I haven't asked a VSR. Who is the VSR? Is it a VA employee? I'm tempted to just ride it out, as my filing date was in June and I'm not strapped for cash. I've been waiting 12 years now for a fair rating for my knees, they lost my first 2 claims. The good news is that during my last claim they found the 1st one and back dated the award to the day after active service! I just want all of this to be over.

Hello, I have a claim in, had C&Ps, and have uploaded all of my documentation for the claim. There is a button that says "Make decision now" in ebenefits. I wanted to get yalls feeling on this, is it just another way for the VA to screw us over? Meaning, is there a possibility that my month old C&P results might not be included in the paper work? My claim is in the "gathering evidence" status. Seems like they would have everything they need. My C-File has every thing but what I uploaded and the new C&P results. My claim says it will be done around 4/2018 - 8/2018. How long does it take for them to get evidence? I know that some of these questions aren't really answerable, but how do yall feel about them? Also, how much quicker would this make the claim get processed?

Well, it's been more than 60 days since I asked my load company. I sent them another message on the 26th and I haven't heard back yet. I imagine it's because of the holiday season. I hope to hear good news later this week.

Thank you for the reply. I'd rather them put the ON and headaches together and rate it as one extraschedular condition, it really is one condition. This would likely take me to 100% on it's own if they did it that way. I wanted the Doc to fill out the Headache DBQ as a CYA so I don't have to goto the VA's docs for a C&P. I've never had a good experience with them, I always get yelled at or ignored. Which with my depression doesn't help any thing and I leave in tears. Even had one C&P examiner laugh at me for tearing up after he yelled at me to move my leg in a way that was extremely painful. It wasn't even the leg getting a rating at that C&P, it was already service connected.

Hello team, I'm about to file my claim for Occipital Neuralgia. I want to use my private doctor with a DBQ. My issue is that I don't know which DBQ to use. There are two neurological DBQs that I think could be the one I need but, they don't list the occipital nerve on them. Can someone that is familiar with this help me? Peripheral Nerve Conditions http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-0960C-10-ARE.pdf Cranial Nerve Conditions http://www.vba.va.gov/pubs/forms/VBA-21-0960C-3-ARE.pdf I'll also have the doctor fill out the Headaches DBQ since this causes god awful headaches. Thank you in adanced, Stephens

The C&P went well. I really feel the VES is full of pro Veteran doctors, at least the two that I have seen. We will how the next C&P goes. I will file NODs and CUEs until I get the rating that I am entitled to. I've fired the TVC and tell other Vets to come here and look at Chris Attig's website for information. I've found the right people to listen too!

I'm about to goto the first of the C&Ps. Its with the same Doctor that fairly rated my other disability. Sadly I listened to the Texas Veteran's Commision's advice and didn't file a NOD because "Don't rock the boat, they might take your rating away." I wish I knew about this site before I signed up with the TVC. I'm past the appeals time limit so these are real CUEs. Thank you all for the advice and wisdom, Stephens

Awesome, thank you for the input. I just looked in ebenefits and the claim is still in "Gathering of evidence".

Good news, I filed three CUEs and now have three C&P exams. Great news, it's with the VES and not the VA. The best news, I've seen one of these VES Doctors before and he rated the disability exactly correct! My question is, since I was given the C&Ps for the three disabilities that I filed the CUEs against, does this mean that the VA is agreeing that they made a CUE? I understand the exams still have to happen for the rating portion, but does this mean the bureaucratic part of the VA agrees there was a mistake? Logic tells me "yes, why would they schedule an exam if they were just going to deny the CUE." However, this is the VA and logic is hard for them. Last night I was going through my records to get them ready for the C&Ps. While I was doing this, I found another CUE that if accepted will net me another 10% back to 2005. Go through your records, DBQs, and Rating Decision letters, you might have CUEs just waiting to be found! Thank you, Stephens

I'm confused and I hope someone can help me. I'm looking for an answer to which documents the VA wants me to submit. I looked at the status of my CUE and found that there is a request for documents but they don't say which ones. Please see the attached pic of what I'm seeing. The text is "Automated 5103 Notice Response". Thanks, Stephens

Thank you for the response "L". I'm glad you mentioned this. I will see if I can get some of my tax money back as well. That would been nice. Update on the refund: It will take the loan company 30 - 60 business days for the turn around. I assume that part of that is turn around for the VA. Also since I payed zero down and rolled the fee into the loan, the money will be refunded to the mortgage and not directly back to me. It all has to do with how the fee was paid. If you paid the fee out of your pocket you would be due for cash back. Cheers, Stephens

They want a Certificate of Eligibility and they want me to put my loan number on it. I found this VA site https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/purchaseco_certificate.asp talking about how to get the CoE. I used the online method, https://eauth.va.gov/ebenefits/coe. I sent the CoE to the loan company. It does state on the CoE that I'm exempt from the Funding Fee so lets hope this is all that is needed. I'll keep you updated, Stephens

Ok, I called the loan office and was told to send in my information. I'm not sure the guy on the phone knew exactly what was going to happen but, he took all the information and got a ticket open for me. They said to give them 15 days and they would update me. I sent them the VA Benefit Summary Letter from e-benefits and a link to the VA's site that talks about waiving the funding fee. https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/purchaseco_loan_fee.asp I'll report back with more information when I get it, Stephens

Thank you for the advise. I will file another claim this weekend. I'll report back with any news. Cheers, Stephens

Looks like I just need to reach out to the lender and let them know that I was awarded SC. If that doesn't work I'll reach out to the VA Regional Loan Center and ask for more information. I'll let you know how it goes, Stephens

I bought a house with the VA Home Loan shortly before the VA awarded me 80% Service Connection. I just noticed that this fee is waved for Disabled Vets (https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/purchaseco_loan_fee.asp). Since my award was retro active for almost a decade and well past the time I purchased the house, can I get the 2.15% fee back? How do I go about getting that back? Sorry if this is the wrong spot to post this. Thank you, Stephens

So you are saying It's good I CUE'd but, it's a long shot. Reapply for what I was denied and get the SC. I should CUE them once I have SC, if the effective date is not my discharge date. Thanks again, Mike

Thank you for that answer. Yes, I was awarded for some items and not for the others. Sadly, I let the year slide for the NOD. I was scared to rock the boat after I got my award, but now I'm looking to move forward. I just spoke earlier this week with someone from the Texas Veteran's Commission. They helped me put in three CUEs as I had documents saying that these three items happened in service and the denial letter said they did not. If I'm denied again, I will add this to the list and refile a CUE. I'm pretty sure we have them on this as each item has documents and the C&Ps also had conflicting answers that work in my favor. Such as reports of flair ups in some answers in the questions, then a direct "no" to questions about flair ups. The guy from the TVC seemed very hopeful that this was cut and dry. After I saw what he looked for on the CUEs I started looking through my paperwork and found more CUEs along the same lines. When I put two and two together and realized that I shouldn't have been denied at least 0% SC on all of these items, I came here to ask. I will report back with any news! Thank you, Stephens

I was admin separated from the Corps because of bilateral petal femoral pain syndrome. I filed a claim with in one year of my discharge. The VA sat on it for almost a decade, until I submitted another claim, asked about the first one and filed for the exact same issues as the old claim. The only mention of this claim has been in my awards/denial letter. In the awards sections I was told that my effective date was the date of my discharge due to an unadjudicated claim that I submitted with in one year of my discharge. My question about the CUE is that if they are working with that unadjudicated claim that was submitted with in one year of my discharge, isn't everything that I claimed supposed to be presumed to be service connected? I was active for 2.5 years and honorable discharged, I meet all of the in service requirements that I know of. So what do you think, do I have a CUE since they never adjudicated the claim that was within one year of my discharge? The only thing that I think is going to hurt me is that the unadjudicated claim still isn't in my ebenefits site or c-file, so they might say that my claim date was the date I filed the new claim. Which is funny because they mention the old claim as the reason for my effective date being my discharge date. I still have the old claim and reference number they gave me. I'm at 80%. I count this as a win, but I still want to push forward. It's been a long fight and I'm not ready to give up. The items I was denied for should bump me to 90%. Thank you for your help, Stephens EDIT: Can someone move this to the CUE section? Sorry, I didn't realize I was posting in the wrong section.