Va Timeline Policy....

[veteran7796]

Good Morning,

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a long term (13 year employee) VA rater on a personal level who is outside of my RO in another state. The rater seemed to be appalled at how my RO in Waco has handled both my claim and many other claims in this region.

The rater informed me it is written verbatim in VA policy that once a rating decision has been made and granted, the VA has exactly 5 working days to "promulgate" the claim, finalize it and pay the veteran.

Has anyone else heard this?

I ask because both my VSO and this rater looked at my info and said my claim is already rated, it just needs to finalize. The thing is, they rated my claim and granted it over a month ago...and it's just sitting there. The rater said it could be done "today" if they wanted and there is no excuse after a decision has been made and approved for it to sit for another month...let alone another week.

However, my VSO who works at the RO in Waco just told me although my claim is rated, I should expect another 60 days before they can process it.

I told the rater what my VSO said and the rater said that was absolutely absurd and that the VSO should have already reviewed it in (VBMS?), sent it back and have it processed right away. No excuse.

Any thoughts?

[JayBrown1]

I not sure if this is relevant but I appealed a decision, it went before the BVA, i won the appeal, got board decision in June 2014 in the mail and as of Sep 2, 2014 I still have not been paid! So when it comes to timelines to me it whenever the feel like getting it done!

[veteran7796]

Yeah, that would be a bit messed up. It does baffle me how every case is different from one to the next even if claims are similar in the number and type of contentions and filing date. For instance, two claims for PTSD get completed on the same exact day and one gets paid within 2 days while the other sits for 6 weeks before payment.

I think it comes down to what the VA rep handling your case is willing to get done that day, month, year.

[TiredCoastie]

Carlie,

I did. My utilities have been shut off 3 times in the past 90 days (gas and electric). Im also well over 30 days late on my mortgage and of course, every other bill. 2014 has been a very bad year.

Amazing how the RO is blowing this off. If you haven't sent a copy of the shutoff notices to your VSO along with the threats from the mortgage company, there's never a better time than today. Seems like they ought to be enough to get a decision to you ASAP.

Of course, copies, mail, etc cost money.

[veteran7796]

Tired Coastie,

I did send them in. But, the whole system is just backlogged. Even so, the VA is kicking the can down the road on a fix for the backlogs. Even the backlogs have backlogs and so on.

As for my finances, this year and last was a perfect storm. I was keeping my head above water by utilizing the Post 9-11 GI Bill and getting a housing stipend. But I graduated and that cut off about $560.00 per month.

I dont make much in my federal job ($600 a week after deductions)and raising three boys on that is difficult enough. Anyway, Obama froze federal pay for all workers for 3 years and this year we only got a 1% pay raise which gave me an extra $8 per payday on my check. However, combine that with my property tax increase this year of $300.00, my healthcare premiums went up by $15.00 a payday and the Social Security Tax Relief expired in January which cost me $70.00 per month plus general cost of living. All in all, my costs have increased about $125.00 per month while my check shrank by $70.00. So that's a $200.00 per month net loss.

It makes everything worse when you're desperate for relief too.

[veteran7796]

CLAIM COMPLETE: Increase to 40% overall. Now I can appeal for my PTSD!!

My new AB8 shows effective date of Jan 1st 2014...I assume this is the last update for the award amount and not my actual effective date, right?

My VSO said that since it was a CUE they put my effective date back to 5/31/2011 (my initial claim date). If so, I am due backpay from that date.

[veteran7796]

Finally was able to get into e-benefits docs that DO show 10% increase effective 5/31/2011.