New Notice On Ebenefits

[Ascomdepot68]

First time I saw the following on eBenefits this morning. Opening a new can of worms!

"If a new claim is submitted while an existing claim is pending, any new information will be consolidated with the pending claim. The new claim will then be marked as Complete and moved to Historical Claims with no further action required."

Edited September 22, 2014 by Asomdepot68

[georgiapapa]

It means the VA has found a way to discourage veterans with pending claims from filing new claims. This will help the VA by slowing down the rate of new claims received but it will penalize veterans with pending claims who want to file new claims and establish an earlier effective date. As a result, VA will save a lot on money by delaying the effective dates of new claims. JMO

[K_C]

I made the mistake of submitting two additional claims about four months after my initial claim. I was educated by my VSO that this essentially reset the timer on my claim in terms of estimated completion time. They ended up consolidating all three claims and giving me the earlier date of claim, which I imagine would carry over if I am successfully rated.

Lesson learned. I figured out in July that I would definitely be filing for a scar I have. However, I didn't want to delay my existing claim any more. Solution? I started a new claim--but didn't complete it. I just did the very first few pages where you verify your information and they email you a receipt. The result will be I have a locked in date of claim and won't delay my existing claim since I'm not putting any potential burden on the VA at this point to collect any evidence. When my current claim is adjudicated, I can complete the claim submission AND will have enough time in the interim to collect any and all evidence in support of the claim so that I can submit FDC.

The only unknown contingency would be if my current claim wasn't adjudicated by July of next year, the expiration of the claim. However, I don't suspect that will happen at this point.

Edited September 22, 2014 by whalenkcj

[NavyWife]

Lesson learned. I figured out in July that I would definitely be filing for a scar I have. However, I didn't want to delay my existing claim any more. Solution? I started a new claim--but didn't complete it. I just did the very first few pages where you verify your information and they email you a receipt. The result will be I have a locked in date of claim and won't delay my existing claim since I'm not putting any potential burden on the VA at this point to collect any evidence. When my current claim is adjudicated, I can complete the claim submission AND will have enough time in the interim to collect any and all evidence in support of the claim so that I can submit FDC.

The only unknown contingency would be if my current claim wasn't adjudicated by July of next year, the expiration of the claim. However, I don't suspect that will happen at this point.

Great idea!

I did this exact same thing, filed a FDC in Sept. 2013, then started a claim on E benefits but not submitted, with the date of Jan 2014 saved. We will see if the experiment works out...

[ejfrank]

There is no more regional offices.The way it is done is a claim is filed and it automatically is sent to the office with the lowest backlog.You also can only have one claim per veteran at a time. This is the way they think that the claims will get done quicker. All paperwork is sent to a designated place to be scanned in now too.

[Notorious Kelly]

I wonder if Congress is aware of this new date game.

Sounds like another move to mask actual claims processing time.

[stanval]

Congress may have initiated this process. Go figure!