Treasury Greenbook

[infantry10]

Wow!! Thats ridiculous! It should never take that long and it's a shame you had to wait for what was owed to you. Smh!

My wife's grand father passed away in Nov 2009. His wife has been receiving VA payment ever since in Full payment of what he was getting before he passed. She has contacted them several times telling them of their mistake but they've never fixed it. She's been in contact with the local VFW also and he keeps telling her to "just spend it". Her husband was a smart Marine and taught her well how the VA works. She puts the overpayment in a separate savings account every month cause she knows eventually VA is going to want it back. The VFW tells her that she should just spend it and if and when the VA wants it back, they'll take care of it. I'm glad she is smart enough to know to never listen to VSOs over common sense.

[Philip Rogers]

Wow!! Thats ridiculous! It should never take that long and it's a shame you had to wait for what was owed to you. Smh!

My wife's grand father passed away in Nov 2009. His wife has been receiving VA payment ever since in Full payment of what he was getting before he passed. She has contacted them several times telling them of their mistake but they've never fixed it. She's been in contact with the local VFW also and he keeps telling her to "just spend it". Her husband was a smart Marine and taught her well how the VA works. She puts the overpayment in a separate savings account every month cause she knows eventually VA is going to want it back. The VFW tells her that she should just spend it and if and when the VA wants it back, they'll take care of it. I'm glad she is smart enough to know to never listen to VSOs over common sense.

infantry10 - as long as she can prove she's notified them, of his death, she should be able to receive a waiver, on paying it back. If he was 100% she should have applied for DIC, then also. She would be wise to keep it in a safe deposit box and in another bank, somewhere safe from electronic attachment by the VA. jmo

pr

[infantry10]

infantry10 - as long as she can prove she's notified them, of his death, she should be able to receive a waiver, on paying it back. If he was 100% she should have applied for DIC, then also. She would be wise to keep it in a safe deposit box and in another bank, somewhere safe from electronic attachment by the VA. jmo

pr

Thank you for this information! I will pass it along to her. She's never spent the other part so she'd have almost 3 years worth. I'm sure she could use it since she's raising her twin grandsons.

[infantry10]

Also, yes he was 100%. He passed away due to having lung cancer that was caused by a parasite from agent orange. She has documentation from VA of what the cancer came from. He was awarded compensation for it 4 months before he passed away.

[free_spirit_etc]

PR,

I wouldn't count on her getting a waiver. Just showing she notified them of the death wouldn't be enough. She would most likely have to show that she didn't know she wasn't entitled to the funds, and / or that it would be a hardship to pay it back. Though I am not sure of the VA rules yet -- I imagine they are similar to SSA.

And just moving those particular funds wouldn't protect her from electronic attachment. They can attach any funds at the same bank. In my case, I had closed the account that the funds had been placed in before they did an attachment. The placed a freeze on the funds in a different account I had at the same bank -which was an account I opened in just my name after my husband's bank. So the VA can attach any funds in any account you might have at the same bank that they deposited the funds to.

In my case, a big part of the battle was that they froze the funds, but didn't reclaim them for a long time. So I couldn't spend them because they had a hold on them, but I couldn't be issued a check for the amount due, because they had never reclaimed the funds.

[free_spirit_etc]

And the VFW never told her to apply for DIC?

Also, yes he was 100%. He passed away due to having lung cancer that was caused by a parasite from agent orange. She has documentation from VA of what the cancer came from. He was awarded compensation for it 4 months before he passed away.

[free_spirit_etc]

There is a bit here on VA debt:

http://blog.rosslawllc.com/2012/06/21/-the-va-giveth-and-taketh-away-va-overpayments.aspx

I am not sure about the equity and good conscious part for the VA - I know with SSA it is more along the lines that you were not "at fault" for the overpayment, that you did not realize you were overpaid, and that relying on the belief that the money was yours, you put yourself in a worse financial position (i.e. you spent money you wouldn't have spent otherwise, or made financial commitments you wouldn't have made otherwise). As far as hardship -- you have to prove it would place a hardship on you for you to repay the funds. With against equity and good conscious you don't have to show you are unable to repay, just that you have placed yourself in a worse financial position relying on the agency's error.