Needing Some Advice

[infantry10]

My claim was rated on Oct 31 and it's been in pending decision approval ever since. I'm grateful that its got this far and its got the attention it has. But, if it doesn't start moving a little faster I'm afraid I'm going to lose my house. My question is...would it benefit me to contact a senator at this stage or would it hurt me. I am willing to do anything at this point if it would help move things along faster but I'm not sure if that would be the best option or not. If anyone has any advice, I would grately appreciate it!! I'm desperate and any opinions would be helpful. Thanks!!

[carlie]

My claim was rated on Oct 31 and it's been in pending decision approval ever since. I'm grateful that its got this far and its got the attention it has. But, if it doesn't start moving a little faster I'm afraid I'm going to lose my house. My question is...would it benefit me to contact a senator at this stage or would it hurt me. I am willing to do anything at this point if it would help move things along faster but I'm not sure if that would be the best option or not. If anyone has any advice, I would grately appreciate it!! I'm desperate and any opinions would be helpful. Thanks!!

Personally, I would not contact my senator.

I would go visit my VARO in person.

JMHO

[Loose Cannon]

Sorry to hear of your situation. If it were me I would look at doing the following before involving my elected official. I bet you've probably done some of these already. Hope you get the news you have been waiting for and that it's good news! Again, just my humble opinion...I'm sure others will chime in.

1) Make contact with your VSO even if it means paying them a visit in person. Most are poor at returning calls!

2) Call the 1-800 number and talk to "Peggy" and explain your dire need.

3) Do an IRIS requesting a claim status update. Usually takes 5 working days for a reply so don't expect an immediate response.

4) Call the bank that holds your mortgage and speak with a human. Don't just leave a message. Not sure if you are a few months behind or if foreclosure has been started or is imminent. See if they will accept a partial payment until your settlement check arrives.

5) Bankruptcy. Believe it or not, there are options that could in fact allow you to keep your house and most personal items while making one combined payment to the Trustee. Going this route has helped many veterans so don't rule it out without checking with a lawyer who specializes in bankruptcy.

6) Contact elected official like you said. Perhaps they can get some answers without actually doing an "official inquiry" which has been known to actually slow the claim process down!

Keep the faith and remain strong (easier said than done, I know). From what you wrote, your claim is soooo close to the end. For what it's worth, I feel your pain but will pray for a quick resolution.

LC

[63SIERRA]

what did they rate your claim at? if they rated it already, there is a provision in the law that can expediate claims, if you are behind on utility bills or are abt to lose your house., as was already recommended, maybe try to call the RO where it was rated, and let them know of your situation, and see if it helps, if not It doesnt seem like contacting a congressmans liason would hurt you,. I went the congressmans route, and it got them moving, It made them make a descision on an 18 month old case.

Heres what happens. You contact your congressmans liason, and they have u fill out a form, you tell them on that form your problem,

Congressmans liason calls a liason at the va that they regulally deal with. They talk, and your file gets pullled and put in a special area where it is tracked. Abt once a month, you get a letter from congressmans liason saying whats going on, also will get letters from the va.

These are called special correspondence. This action puts the va in a position of knowing they are being " tracked". It may or may not help you but if things start getting way out of hand, the congressman would have good ammunition, to start an inquiry, and get people either repremanded, or fired for not doing thier job., I know this from personal experience because I actually did a congressional inquiry.

Another option is to call your creditiors and tell them the situation, and that you plan to pay them asap.

Edited December 7, 2013 by 63SIERRA

[63SIERRA]

I had a cousin, cousin wayne, who used the lotto system to pay his bills when hard times hit. He would write all his creditors names on a little piece of paper and put them in his hat and pull out 3 or 4. Those are the ones that got payed that month. when the creditors would call, complaining, he would inform them that they werent picked that month. And if they continued to harrass him, thier name wouldnt even go into the drawing the following month.

It got quite comical as the creditiors would call and ask if they had got picked after several months.., haha

Edited December 7, 2013 by 63SIERRA

[infantry10]

According to AL, VA gave me my IU back and everything I had before they took it stayed the same which means my son can go back to college on ch. 35 benefits. My VARO is over a 2 hr drive one way so its a little hard for me to just drive there. I did get mad and frustrated on Wed when both my electric and water companies came to my house threatening to disconnect me plus a call from my mortgage company threatening foreclosure. I explained everything to them all but none seemed to care about my situation. So I called my senator's office. I only gave my first name but explained everything to her about what happened. She was completely confused as to why this happened to begin with. I told her, she wasnt the only one. The AL, RO and every other vso I've talked with couldn't make sense of it either. She advised me that it would benefit me to allow her to help me since everything has already been rated and I'm just waiting on final steps. I told her I would think about it and call her back on Monday to let her know. She also said (along with everyone else I've talked to) this is the first and only time shes ever heard of this happening to a veteran and she thinks they've made a mistake somewhere. I told her, VA admits they were the one who made the mistake. I'm just not sure if I should allow them to get involved or not so thats why I'm asking my friends here at hadit what your opinions are cause I'm not sure what to do.

[infantry10]

I had a cousin, cousin wayne, who used the lotto system to pay his bills when hard times hit. He would write all his creditors names on a little piece of paper and put them in his hat and pull out 3 or 4. Those are the ones that got payed that month. when the creditors would call, complaining, he would inform them that they werent picked that month. And if they continued to harrass him, thier name wouldnt even go into the drawing the following month.

It got quite comical as the creditiors would call and ask if they had got picked after several months.., haha

That's a pretty good one, I may just try that. It would give me a good laugh and with the week I've had, it would be the first.