Informal Claim

[Zechs]

To set my effective date through an informal claim, I know I need to state what condition I'm filing for on a form 21-4138, but do I need to state the symptoms or go into any greater detail?

I'm still gathering evidence, so I don't want to trigger a full claim at the moment, just stake an effective date and my intentions on formally filing within a year.

[broncovet]

Meg

I dont know what RO you are in, but at my RO "There is no such thing as a 90 day claim (awarded)." Oh, you may be able to get a denial, in 90 days, but then it takes 4 years to appeal it to the BVA. For most Veterans, less than 15% of claims are fully awarded on the first RO decision.

The "old" guys know that 90days is not possible but the newbies...they may count on the money in 90 days and they are going to be rudely disappointed. Personally, I applied in 2002, denied in 8 months, AND THIS APPEAL CONTINUES for more than a decade. Mine is not unusual, the typical 100% Vet waits a decade through appeals to get his benefits.

I have been to the BVA TWICE and now its onto the CAVC. Incredibly, I won at the BVA once and the RO refuses to implement EITHER of my BVA awards (Both were partial/full awards).

The "90 day claim" hogwash is usually perpetuated by VA execs who are trying to justify their bonuses. We know better.

All this being said, there are a few limited RO's that may be able to process some claims quickly. Probably Idaho, and some under populated states. Forget it if you live in California, Ohio, and dont even think about New York. There is a great disparity between Regional Offices, which, is in credible considering that the RO's "farm their claims out" (which usually results in additional delays) to less busy states. Even with farming them out, if you check the statistics, there is a wide variation among RO's. By the Way, my claim has been Farmed out to Philadelphia, St. Pete and Roanoke, all of which resulted in additional delays.

If your appeal winds up at AMC...you may as well forget this as you wont see anything for 10 years, that is, if they dont lose your claim altogether, which they have done to me, also.

[manning01]

My normal initial claim took over 2 years. But remember Meg is talking about the Fully Developed Claim (FDC) program which I have one in I submitted Dec 26th 2012 with all the paperwork and there is already movement on it. The VSO's here say they usually complete the FDC's here in Phoenix in 90 days or less, even shorter if you submit the DBQ and IMO with it. Regular claims or NOD's forget it join the crowd and wait for years.

Edited January 3, 2013 by manning01

[meghp0405]

Meg

I dont know what RO you are in, but at my RO "There is no such thing as a 90 day claim (awarded)." Oh, you may be able to get a denial, in 90 days, but then it takes 4 years to appeal it to the BVA. For most Veterans, less than 15% of claims are fully awarded on the first RO decision.

The "old" guys know that 90days is not possible but the newbies...they may count on the money in 90 days and they are going to be rudely disappointed. Personally, I applied in 2002, denied in 8 months, AND THIS APPEAL CONTINUES for more than a decade. Mine is not unusual, the typical 100% Vet waits a decade through appeals to get his benefits.

I have been to the BVA TWICE and now its onto the CAVC. Incredibly, I won at the BVA once and the RO refuses to implement EITHER of my BVA awards (Both were partial/full awards).

The "90 day claim" hogwash is usually perpetuated by VA execs who are trying to justify their bonuses. We know better.

All this being said, there are a few limited RO's that may be able to process some claims quickly. Probably Idaho, and some under populated states. Forget it if you live in California, Ohio, and dont even think about New York. There is a great disparity between Regional Offices, which, is in credible considering that the RO's "farm their claims out" (which usually results in additional delays) to less busy states. Even with farming them out, if you check the statistics, there is a wide variation among RO's. By the Way, my claim has been Farmed out to Philadelphia, St. Pete and Roanoke, all of which resulted in additional delays.

If your appeal winds up at AMC...you may as well forget this as you wont see anything for 10 years, that is, if they dont lose your claim altogether, which they have done to me, also.

Well Sir, let me say this, I have submitted just over 400 "fully developed claims" in 2012. Each of those claims were adjudicated within 90 days. The only exception were those military personnel that were retiring and had been awarded 50% or greater.Those claims took about 30 days longer due to DFAS computing the CRDP pay. A VA FM 21-526ez has to be completed with ALL suporting documents. I have assisted veterans from the Korean war forward to todays veterans. These FDC claims have been in effect for about 2 years now. This is no " hogwash" as you state. Has nothing to do with va executives justyfing their bonus. The FDC claims are not farmed out and are adjudicated by the state which the veteran resides. I have seen change with the VA. Don't get me wrong they have a long way to go but again the FDC claims are real and they do work. i have been doing this for a long time myself and i can tell you this from my experience with claims, if a claim is sitting somewhere for over 4 years, the claim is missing something, it's not complete. I have seen many on this site say "send them documents all the time", i think this is the worst thing that anybody can do for a claim. most cases each time documentation is sent to VA, the claim is sent back to development phase. Which will add months to your claim. Send in a complete claim and see what happens...

[SolInvictus]

Meg, I have to side with Broncovet on this one. Even if this new FDC is as efficient as you say, how fair or just is it to the rest of the claimants who's only error has been to follow the va's own procedure that existed before the new program. So let me understand this, the vet stands in line for years awaiting adjudication of his claim, the va knows this looks terribly innefficient so instead of streamlining the process on their end and hiring more workers to clear the backlog, the va administrators come up with a new gimmick of starting a new queue for new claimants and holding them up as shining examples of how efficient the new system is. Meanwhile the folks who have been languishing in the old line are left holding the bag and are expected to applaud. This would be funny if the joke wasn't on us. Broncovet is right, when they fix the problem with the real line, we'll be more than glad to show our gratitude, but the magic show in the FDC line isn't fooling anyone. We've been patient, it doesn't mean we're slow.

[broncovet]

Well, Meg:

If, in fact, the VA is doing FDC claims in 90 days...ACROSS THE COUNTY, then we would see a reduction in the backlog...but we have not. In fact it continues to get worse and FDC is just one more unkept government promise and program, or, at least, a promise that is kept "some of the time". It may have even worked in YOUR RO for a while, but I have SERIOUS DOUBTS it is working nation wide. Why do I say this? I have heard way, way, way, too many promises coming from Sec. Shinseki. For example, he said he would "break" the backlog in 2010. Now, the promise has been moved to 2015, which is a convienient number for him because he will be leaving as a new president will be elected in 2016, and they would be a fool to keep Eric after he could not keep his promises.

Here is where Shinseki promised to end the backlog in 2010, in case you forgot. I didnt.

http://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/90664/shinseki-backlog-will-end-year

If Vets COULD get their claim done in 90 days by submitting an FDC, then there would be such a rush to do so, they would no longer be able to keep up the 90 day promise.

[SolInvictus]

Well, Meg:

If, in fact, the VA is doing FDC claims in 90 days...ACROSS THE COUNTY, then we would see a reduction in the backlog...but we have not. In fact it continues to get worse and FDC is just one more unkept government promise and program, or, at least, a promise that is kept "some of the time". It may have even worked in YOUR RO for a while, but I have SERIOUS DOUBTS it is working nation wide. Why do I say this? I have heard way, way, way, too many promises coming from Sec. Shinseki. For example, he said he would "break" the backlog in 2010. Now, the promise has been moved to 2015, which is a convienient number for him because he will be leaving as a new president will be elected in 2016, and they would be a fool to keep Eric after he could not keep his promises.

Here is where Shinseki promised to end the backlog in 2010, in case you forgot. I didnt.

http://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/90664/shinseki-backlog-will-end-year

If Vets COULD get their claim done in 90 days by submitting an FDC, then there would be such a rush to do so, they would no longer be able to keep up the 90 day promise.

Broncovet's theory on this issue makes perfect sense to me. It synchronizes perfectly with Thomas Paine's correct summation of the true purpose of all governments once they become self serving- which is to separate the citizen from his rights. The VA in effect has become a governing body which does more to separate vets from their rights to compensation they've earned, than the supposed purpose of the VA which is to efficiently grant and secure those rights. In the name of separating the deserving vets from the frauds, the VA has succeeded in setting up an elaborate scheme that rewards the criminals ( politicians/ contractors and confidence tricksters) instead of the veteran. For every cent they award a vet, a criminal gains a dollar. And the taxpayer and the poor veteran get hosed at every turn. How else are we to explain the pepertually inefficient monstrosity they've set up that only seems to get worse the more they fix it. They've had decades of trial and have very little success to show and they never seem to be in a hurry to get the job done. The only certainty is that they all get paid well, onetime and promise to come back for more pay to fix yesterday's errors.