New Here Need Help With Approved Claim

[Hrizio]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and new to the process as a whole. I was in the USMC from 89-94 and was discharged with a 10% disability rating. I filed a claim upon discharge and just found out I was approved in 1996 but the VA could not find me as my address had changed. They apparantly had been sending checks until 2002 when they stopped due to th being sent back. I literally have lived within 5 miles of this location since my claim approval so I am stumped how hard it would have been to find me but nonetheless, I corrected my address information and my local VA rep took my direct deposit information and requested my case be reopened (claim already approved) and for the back pay and monthly benefits be sent to me. Does anyone know how long this takes? My congressman just opened and inquiry into this a couple days ago. As I stated, my claim has been approved for years. I have never received any benefits due to having an old address and because of such my file was closed. My rep reopened the claim and I am just wondering on a timeline to begin receiving the benefits I should have been getting for years. I am a single father of two kids and am in a significant financial dilemma as I am sure many are. Just foreclosed on and a bankruptcy discharged. Please if someone can give me a timeline. I have heard it takes years to get claims approved but mine has been approved. Just waiting for them to reopen and start sending my benefits. Thank you in advance for any information that anyone can provide. Semper Fi.

Howard

[Wolfhound88]

Holy moly! Welcome aboard brother! I don't know how to answer that question for you, but I guarantee someone here will be able to. For your sake, I really, really hope they re-issue all those checks!

[Hrizio]

Thanks brother. My local rep said I will receive my back pay (fingers crossed). Just hope it's sooner rather than later. N

[StreetWalker]

Posting the story more than once is not going to get you a faster answer. It takes what it takes. If anyone here knew a way to speed things up they could get rich selling the method.

[Hrizio]

My apologies. If you read the first like it says I'm NEW to this site and this process. I noticed this was the INTRODUCTION portion and wasn't sure the appropriate place to post this question. Certainly wasn't attempting to annoy anyone. Just merely wanted to ensure I posted the question in the appropriate forum. If I can figure out how to delete them then I will be sure to do so. Thanks for the help. Semper Fi.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Hrizio

[Stretch]

Welcome Hrizio. You are in the right place. No problem with the double post. Part of our rules say that if something bothers a person that the person should just move on. You will figure this all out if you keep reading. Hang in there.

Semper Fi

[confusion99%]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site and new to the process as a whole. I was in the USMC from 89-94 and was discharged with a 10% disability rating. I filed a claim upon discharge and just found out I was approved in 1996 but the VA could not find me as my address had changed. They apparantly had been sending checks until 2002 when they stopped due to th being sent back. I literally have lived within 5 miles of this location since my claim approval so I am stumped how hard it would have been to find me but nonetheless, I corrected my address information and my local VA rep took my direct deposit information and requested my case be reopened (claim already approved) and for the back pay and monthly benefits be sent to me. Does anyone know how long this takes? My congressman just opened and inquiry into this a couple days ago. As I stated, my claim has been approved for years. I have never received any benefits due to having an old address and because of such my file was closed. My rep reopened the claim and I am just wondering on a timeline to begin receiving the benefits I should have been getting for years. I am a single father of two kids and am in a significant financial dilemma as I am sure many are. Just foreclosed on and a bankruptcy discharged. Please if someone can give me a timeline. I have heard it takes years to get claims approved but mine has been approved. Just waiting for them to reopen and start sending my benefits. Thank you in advance for any information that anyone can provide. Semper Fi.

Howard

No one is ever sure how long anything takes, but if it can take months to get a dependent added, or once a claim is approved to get switched to draw va compensation v/s retirement pay, you can assume it will take months for anything to happen with your claim. The problem is first you have to get someone to read it....if it goes into a stack of "not yet started" claims, it will sit there until someone picks it up. I had one claim sit in "received" for 6 months before it moved to "review". After my major claim was approved, and waiting 5 months to get switched from retirement to va compensation, I ended up having to drive the 200 plus miles to the Houston office to get them to process the simple form.

So, it all depends on where you filed and if they have anyone there receiving things that can read. In my case they kept saying they had not received the form.....After I arrived, sure enough, it took 30 seconds to find it in the computer. It had been stuck in one of those other claims I have sitting there waiting to be looked at. So I guess you could say 30 days to 30 months. I would see about filing a hardship case as that may speed it up for someone to look at it. Since it is a slamdunk case for approval, it might get you your money sooner than later.