Fully Developed Claim

[AfghanVet850]

I filled a FDC Feb 01, 2013 It moved to prep for Decision April 08,2013 where it still sits does anyone have experience in how long a FDC takes out of St. Petersburg?

[TiredCoastie]

Guess it depends on the VARO, the rater, and the NSO/VSO you've got. My first shot at an FDC through Phila took 5 months, included C&P exams, didn't increase my overall rating one bit, and there were some obvious errors in the decision. The DAV NSO promised me 100% in 60-90 days (he also claimed to be one of the co-inventors of the FDC...maybe that should have been my tip off?). DAV shifted me around within their office, and the more reasonable sounding NSO says maybe 70-80% in about 6 months in trying to fix the last decision through more FDCs. I'm pretty close to 60 days into this one with my claim firmly resting on "under development" and probably caught up in the change over to VBMS. So who knows but God what will happen and when?

Concur that e-bennies just drives us crazy watching it...kinda like watching paint dry in slow motion...but it's a whole lot better than the nothing I had most of the time while waiting for my initial decision to get processed.

[AfghanVet850]

I guess I will have faith in the program its just hard after waiting 25 months for my first claim.

[manning01]

I guess I will have faith in the program its just hard after waiting 25 months for my first claim.

Yes it's hard like you my first was 28 months. Every RO has huge differences in FDC wait times hopefully yours won't be that much longer. The VA says it takes them an average of 110 days for FDC's ya right that's with the good RO's I hate to see what Oakland, Baltimore, WACO, St Pete etc FDC's are averaging. So hang in there and I hope you get good results.

[AfghanVet850]

Well with St. Pete being one of the most backlogged RO I guess I have a long wait ahead.

[meghp0405]

Carlie, you are so correct on your comments about the FDC. I have submitted several hundred of these in the past two years. They (at the Louisville, KY VARO) were all completed within 90 days. The only exception was a military retiree that was awarded 50% or greater, the claim had to go to DFAS for the financial computation due to the CRDP program.

Now, I am seeing these claims take on average 4-5 months again with the Louisville, KY VARO. Still, done way before a normal claim when submitted. Those (again in the Louisville VARO) are taking between 12-18 months on average. Again, these are the stats that I keep when the veteran comes back and let me knows the status of his/her claim.

I suspect that as the word gets out more and more about these claims, they will start slowing down, I hope not though, for the veterans sake anyway.

[88 mike]

I filed a fdc last October to seek back pay for temporary 100% from back surgery. I was given four months of pay but I was placed out of work (per the doctors orders) for 12 months. I submitted a detailed letter specifying that I had to be out of for that length of time and all the reasons why. It's currently stuck in the preparation for decision phase. Oh! I am in the St. Petersburg varo as well. Good luck!!