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.

[free_spirit_etc]

The key is to move them to another bank, or a safe deposit box.

But they can freeze the funds of ANY money you have at that bank. That is what happened to me. I had closed the joint account a few months after my husband died and reopened an individual account in my name. The funds from the joint account (where the VA funds were deposited) were spent -- most of it on my husband's funeral. The money in the individual account was MY money -- actually money that was from my husband's life insurance. The VA didn't even try to reclaim the funds for quite awhile. They just froze them to keep me from spending them in case they decided they wanted them back. The VA didn't notify me. The bank didn't notify me. I just noticed one day that I had less funds available than the funds on deposit. I had to call and visit the bank and no one could tell me why. Then they finally discovered that the VA put a freeze on the funds. Since the funds were no longer in our joint account (that was closed) the bank said they put the freeze on the funds on my individual account. It didn't matter if those funds were from the VA or not. What mattered is that I had been on the joint account, and I had an account at the bank with funds in it and they froze that.

So you can move VA money out of the bank -- but if you still have money that was not from the VA at the same bank - they will freeze that money.

And once they freeze the money -- they aren't in any hurry to get it resolved -- because they know you can't spend it.

Edited October 23, 2013 by free_spirit_etc

[free_spirit_etc]

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/38/503

38 USC § 503 - Administrative error; equitable relief

(a) If the Secretary determines that benefits administered by the Department have not been provided by reason of administrative error on the part of the Federal Government or any of its employees, the Secretary may provide such relief on account of such error as the Secretary determines equitable, including the payment of moneys to any person whom the Secretary determines is equitably entitled to such moneys.

(b) If the Secretary determines that a veteran, surviving spouse, child of a veteran, or other person has suffered loss as a consequence of reliance upon a determination by the Department of eligibility or entitlement to benefits, without knowledge that it was erroneously made, the Secretary may provide such relief on account of such error as the Secretary determines is equitable, including the payment of moneys to any person whom the Secretary determines is equitably entitled to such moneys.

[infantry10]

I'm going to contact her to let her know this information. I know she told me that she gets a check from them every month (thats hers) and then she also still gets his full check too. Her insurance is through Tricare. My wife and kids have Champ VA so I didn't understand the difference. He retired after 22 yrs so I thought maybe thats why there why there was a difference. I am definitely going to find out for her though. He was a wonderful man so helping his wife with anything would be a honor. Thanks for all this information. I know she will be grateful. She's a very humble lady and is really worried about it.

Edited October 23, 2013 by infantry10

[free_spirit_etc]

The check from them that is hers could be DIC then. If they started paying her DIC and still kept paying his full benefits - they have messed up big time. But her check could also be survivors benefits through his military retirement pay (through DFAS).

Edited October 23, 2013 by free_spirit_etc

[infantry10]

I'm pretty sure I've heard her say something about survivers benefits so I think thats what shes getting.

[carlie]

The key is to move them to another bank, or a safe deposit box.

But they can freeze the funds of ANY money you have at that bank. That is what happened to me. I had closed the joint account a few months after my husband died and reopened an individual account in my name. The funds from the joint account (where the VA funds were deposited) were spent -- most of it on my husband's funeral. The money in the individual account was MY money -- actually money that was from my husband's life insurance. The VA didn't even try to reclaim the funds for quite awhile. They just froze them to keep me from spending them in case they decided they wanted them back. The VA didn't notify me. The bank didn't notify me. I just noticed one day that I had less funds available than the funds on deposit. I had to call and visit the bank and no one could tell me why. Then they finally discovered that the VA put a freeze on the funds. Since the funds were no longer in our joint account (that was closed) the bank said they put the freeze on the funds on my individual account. It didn't matter if those funds were from the VA or not. What mattered is that I had been on the joint account, and I had an account at the bank with funds in it and they froze that.

So you can move VA money out of the bank -- but if you still have money that was not from the VA at the same bank - they will freeze that money.

And once they freeze the money -- they aren't in any hurry to get it resolved -- because they know you can't spend it.

YOUR BANK IS WRONG !

The VA is not the damned IRS.

The VA can only mess with the account that they have permission to mess with -

that account being the one they make deposit's into.

They have NO AUTHORITY to mess with a different account number than the one they make deposit's into

or have been provided with authorized to mess with.

Anything other than the above is a NO - NO !

BTW - this thread is moving to many different issues.