tdiu New Sop Disability Audits ?

[Magoo_Mr.]

Today (01-28-2005) ... I received a letter (dated 12-29-2005) ... from the regional DVA and it was titled:

..... "DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS BENEFITS INCREASED" .....

Well, it did show an increase in monthly payment bennies ... HOWEVER ...

Below that statement and continuing on the back of the 1 page letter it also stated:

That there are nine (9) things that the DVA will be "cross checking" on disabled veterans in reference to their status.

Most were common sense .. but number 3 said ... That the DVA will be checking with SSA for those that are on TDIU & paid at 100% rate ... to see if any are receiving "substancial earned income".

Now, I don't go crazy over this ... but, this is the first time that I can remember the DVA sending this kind of info to me.

I guess that this is a DVA SOP letter ??

... Magoo ... aka ... Bill ... B)

[Vike17]

Don't worry, that's stated every year on this VA letter (VA Form 21-8741-1). The VA has been cross checking IU veterans with the Social Security Administration for years.

Vike 17

[Guest Berta]

Yeah- they dont mean SSA disability- they mean evidence that a TDIU vet is working and getting substantial income.(I think- not sure- that Substantial income is not anything below the poverty level???)

[robert51]

I received a letter just yesterday it took 2 months to find me i have moved from Beaverton oregon to portland oregon and then came to manila phillippines and now stay in cebu .. the letter says you are a veteran and you receive 2700 a month 70% and IU is you do not sign and returne this letter within 2 months we will assum you are presently working and will cut your disability to 1400 a month starting april 1 ,2006 well i just sent the letter in but its still a bullshit way to try to rip off the vet.. Because i didnt sign it means i am working .. how do they see that ? How about it took a long time to reach me.. and i do not live here so before anyone says change of address i am waiting for a medical sugery at Portland to be done but NO money they say.. so i chose to wait here..

[Vike17]

Since the uproar over IU last year with the Disability Benefits Commission, the VA has reverted back to these forms (the ones that need to be signed and sent back to the VA). The VA used to do this with IU veterans a long time ago, so actually it's nothing new. Also, if you receive Social Security Disability, you must sign and return a similar form every year to them too. So, I don't think the VA is out to get you.

It's probably not the VA's fault that it took the letter so long to get to you. You might want to check with the U.S. postal service. Did you leave a forwarding address with the them to where you'll be for the next couple of months? The VA just sends corospondence to the veteran's last known address, so if you failed to let them know your current address, or didn't give a heads up to the Postal service, you're probobaly going to have some problems like that!

I'm not trying to bash you or anything like that, but sometimes alot of veterans complain about the VA when it isn't really their fault! I'm not here to defend the VA either. Everyone knows the VA can srew up things from time to time, and believe me, I've seen some pretty good ones! But, I truely believe that for the most part the VA does try to do the right thing. Look at how many times the Socail Security Adminitrations screws up and denys someones benefits, but you don't hear half as many complaints about them! The "sky" isn't falling!

OK, I'm ready, let the bashing begin!

Vike 17

[Testvet]

mail being forwarded overseas, can get put on the "slow boat to china" route, even if you give the post office a forwarding address to an overseas address you will not get within a week service like you do moving from St Louis to San Diego, and then if your mail man is off the day that "letter" showed up, so it got delivered, then it laid around the house for a week or two before the new occupant sticks it back out for the mailman to forward it, if they don't throw it in the trash. I use to be a letter carrier so there are a 1001 things that can happen to a single letter, some of it innocent mistakes and some blatant in your face type stuff, I think letters that are going to reslut in a termination of benefits should require a signed 3857 card to be returned to the VARO to show that you recieved it and the 60 days should start from the date you signed the card, not the day they mailed it. Then you could blame no one but yourself if you miss the deadline. But that makes sense do the government will never do it.

[Vike17]

Mail coming over here to Germany generally takes 5-7 days through the international mailing system. However, form time to time I've had mail get to me within 3 days!

The APO is a totally different thing. For the most part, the mail takes about 10-14 days. Even though this is considered to be mail within the continetal U.S. Go figure!

Vike 17