Proactive Witout Being A Pest

[Guest HolliGreen]

Hello, Last Tuesday I had a C&P appt. at the VA Hosp. for cataracts and the worsening of my multiple sclerosis. I am 100% S/C IU. It has been extremely hot in California and the trip to VA Hosp. rendered me almost unable to walk or even stand up. My MS is extremely heat sensitive. I found the medical arm of the VA to be extremely compassionate and empathetic; the confusion and "bravo-sierra" lie with the RO across the Bay. At any rate, my SO is avaiable only on Thursdays now as he has much ground to cover in this county. My latest e-mail and telephone call to him have yet to be answered. Would contacting the RO Finance dept. regarding this 8,000.00 I allegedly owe serve any purpose? I feel my life is on hold until this mess is cleared up. Thanks to one and all. Holli

[Guest fla_viking]

Dear Sir.

The $8.000 the VA says you owe. Was that due to an overpayment?. The VA law says if the overpayment was due to VA error and not due to fraud on the vets part. The VA cannot make the vet pay the money back.

I was over payed on a comp claim and used that law and it worked.

Terry Higgins

[Berta]

Holli-

Is this overpayment info coming from your vet rep or did you get an actual letter from the VA?

I agree with Terry that in most cases- not all but most- the VA cannot recover-

In some cases they can-

But it is the wording of their letter that will allow us to pull out the regs that might stave this off-

You could try to contact their finance dept via the VA Inquery page- but then again-

if the vet rep has misinterpreted this whole thing , the finance department might start to snoop to see if they can find an overpayment-

Sometimes , with even the best intentions, vet reps can misunderstand stuff like this-

If it is in a VA letter. tell us exactly what reason the VA is giving you to try to re-coup this money.

[Pete53]

Holli:

Talk to them and see if your overpayment can be forgiven. Like Fla said if its their fault you probably can het it waived. The worse thing would be is you could make payments.

[Stretch]

Be a pest. Each time you call think, in your mind, that it is the first time. You must contact before you can even discuss the issue.

[john999]

Also, you can negotiate with them over a percentage payoff. This is in the rule book. The VA bill collectors are able to accept partial payments of debts as write offs. Of course, they are not going to volunteer this information.

[Guest HolliGreen]

Hello and thanks to everyone for your input and advice. Berta, I never received a letter from VA stating I owed any amount. This information was relayed to me by a well-intentioned (however perhaps irresponsible VSO) who assumed I owed, This is how it was explained to me yesterday when I made a visit to the courthouse and the head of the county's veterans affairs met with me. Evidently, I am 90% I.U. receiving the 100% rate for myself and hubby. The head of the county VA was suprised this was never explained to me. He told me yes indeed 8k is on the VA books and if I should return to work (fat chance unless a cure for MS) the 10% deductions will begin again not a demand for 8,000.00. I have no choice but to beleive this man and presume he is correct in his info to me. So that is what happened yesterday. Thank you all so much. The cataract situation is pending so it will be interesting to see what happens. Holli