Vcaa (copy Of Actual Letter)

[Guest jangrin]

Hello Everyone,

There have been many posts regarding VCAA letter. Thought I would post this attachment again for those who want to look it over. Also to save you all some time searching.

Jangrin

vcaa4.doc

[Josephine]

Hello Everyone,

There have been many posts regarding VCAA letter. Thought I would post this attachment again for those who want to look it over. Also to save you all some time searching.

Jangrin

vcaa4.doc

Thanks a bunch!!

Josephine

[cowgirl]

Thanks; I overlooked my first VCAA letters years ago, thinking just general information and no biggy. Learned the hard way. Would be so Easy for VA to Title and Number their documents like DOD eh? Top Right Corner or Bottom ; VCAA Form Letter # .... ? Imagine that? sometimes all white papers look similar, maybe color, zebra or checkerboard print the paper too? smiles. cg

[Guest jangrin]

Cowgirl,

Don't feel all alone, we thought this was just a "nice notice" from the VA letting us know we needed to supply a little more info. If it wasn't for BERTA we would not have a clue that this was the "OFFICIAL VCAA"

letter. Thank goodness for hadit.com and the vets here, because we are learning. Keep reading those posts.

Jangrin

Edited August 15, 2006 by jangrin

[admiral7]

are we obligated in any way to answer the VCAA letter? if so what where when and why? thanks

[Berta]

If it wasn't for Jangrin-I would not have known what one actually looked like-

my local vets have not gotten any and in over 3 years at the VARO- I filed many claim- they did promise me VCAA letters but never sent them.

You should have received a regular blah blah Statement of the Case and also an

Important -Reply needed letter- AND

A VCAA NOTICE RESPONSE with two check boxes on it-

You are asked to make an election:

1. Ask them to decide the claim as it stands as you have no more evidence or

2. Tell them you have more evidence and they will WAIT 60 DAYs for this evidence!

The election form states it a little different- basically

The point is that

1. This proves when you respond that

a. they DID send you the proper VCAA notice

b. they are giving you the opportunity to submit more evidence or have them decide on what they got

c. The IMPORTANT-Reply Needed letter was sent to you and per the Veterans Claims Assistance Act, they have told you in this part of the notice, what you need =that is specific to your claim and beyond the

usual SOC rhetoric.

If a claim is obviously absolutely unsubstantiatable-they wont send a VCAA letter -

Like - had a widow's DIC claim- she claimed vet died due to AO from Vietnam.

The veteran's DD 214 indicated absolutely no Vietnam nor Korean DMZ, nor any other active duty at any possible AO site,

The veteran had stolen money from the Army-

there was nothing at all in this situation that could change the veteran's character of discharge (which was awful) nor award AO DIC for a vet who was never exposed to AO.

This is for real- I get this stuff in my email sometimes-

The VA is NOT obligated to send this widow a VCAA letter.

All other claimants (99% are legit) should get a formal VCAA letter with the election boxes BEFORE their claim is denied and sent to the BVA.

The BVA web site is respendent with Remands all because of the failure of ROs to send this Notice , thus the veteran did not know what they needed as evidence-

For example- I accessed a widow's remand-

she did not get a VCAA letter and the VA denied on some quack stuff-

no Benefit of Doubt regs- used because she was not told what she needed-

in the BVA remand, the BVA told the RO to tell her to obtain an IMO.

When I read this I obtained two IMOs.

I have asked the BVA to Remand me-

and I discussed with my new vet rep (got a good one yesterday when my POA's attorney looked into my situation)

that I can possibly ask the RO Director to CUE the decision that got me to the BVA in the first place-

it is my goal to get that claim back to the RO so they can earn their pay.

I got two stories on my IMOS and the DRO sameo de novo review I got-

based on my POA's clarification of what really went down- I think I will request the CUE and an administrative review-

My point- the BVA will REMAND your claim if the VCAA notice is lacking and was never sent to you- if the BVA finds it to be a Prejudicial error-

Most remands at the BVA seem to be for prejudicial error-re VCAA.

If you have a lousy vet rep,

and if you do not get a VCAA letter,

you still could succeed-by virtue of your medical evidence-

however-

If you have a lousy vet rep , never get a VCAA letter, and get a denial in spite of good evidence-

you might be in for years and years as your claim has already fallen into a pile to be sent to the BVA only to have it remanded- and maybe by then the RO people who caused this to happen as your vet rep stood by with a thumb up----well---you catch my drift-

they might be collecting their FERS retirement and sitting on a beach somewhere- and you are putting YEARS into waiting for a proper resolve of your claim.

Write to my new pen pal if this happens to you:

Chairman Larry Craig

U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

412 Russell Ave

Senate Office Building

Washington, D. C. 20510

If your vet rep or NSO finds out you contacted the Senate and he/she squacks about this -remind your vet rep that, as a citizen of the US of A, your citizen's rights are not subsumed by some piss ant vet org.

.

[Guest jangrin]

are we obligated in any way to answer the VCAA letter? if so what where when and why? thanks

admiral7,

I'm so new to this process I have no idea whether one is obligated to sign the VCAA letter or not. I do have a couple of points though.

When one applies to the VA and sends in the claim it puts the "claim work-up" on the VA. Then when they do the initial evaluation of the claim and send out the VCAA letter to us, it puts the "claim work" back on the VET. Then the vet either signs the notice to go ahead and make a determination or to wait "at Least" 60 days. My husband didn't like the choice so he did not return the signed VCAA letter. We didn't know if at the end of 60 days we would have all his records. We were afraid that if we said 60 days and we got other records after sixty days they might refuse to consider that evidense because it came in after the 60 day cutoff time. So he just waited until we got all the records together and then signed it as no more evidence at this time and sent it in. (it took longer than 60 days)

When we signed the VCAA letter, we said to go ahead and make a determination. We think it puts the "claim work" back on the VA. It also starts the "formal" clock ticking because there is one of their own forms signed dated and delivered to give the OK to rate the claim.

I am beginning to think the reason that the VCAA letters are not being sent is so the VA has no official TIME CLOCK running on making determinations. If there is no VCAA letter in the file they can always say they are waiting for some records. It seems like a built in excuse to me. Also like Berta said, the automatic remand for not doing the job right from the beginning.

I don't know why we got the VCAA letter, when others have not, but at this point I think it is a good thing.

Just my thoughts on the matter,

Jangrin

Edited August 16, 2006 by jangrin