Travel Pay By Direct Deposit

[derenick52]

Hey All,Just Checking to see if anybody else has had problems with the NEW Direct deposit system set up January 1st of this year,My First one went thru with just HALF the amount coming thru,Stopped by and talked to Travel clerk after First Error here at Seattle Regional Hospital-She told me they have people who CANNOT Read doing the travel forms and messing them all up,said she would fix the FIRST one-that was On March 30 and the next one in system-BOTH NEVER Fixed and the ONE she filled out For the day I talked to her was processed Incorrectly ALSO,have a Appointment in about 10 days,Any ideas on how to proceed with this-? She told me they go to Finance and has no way to check on the Claims being corrected supposedly-Hope I am not going to get burned with the 30 day rule for submitting travel claims if the correction is past 30 days since appointment,THANKS for any advice

[broncovet]

Wow! I wonder if VA employees get their pay constantly messed up, like they do Veterans, and then it takes years to "fix it"?

I have often thought they could "fix" the backlog by switching the employees who do VA employee payroll, with those who do Veterans compensation. That way VA employee payroll would take months and months and months to fix all the errors, while Veterans would get paid like clockwork, accurate to the penny every single month.

[broncovet]

I will add as far as I know, Veterans have exactly "zero", zip zilch nada, VA employees we can call to fix this. The only way is to email Allison Hickey and maybe she will get tired of this and have VA employees actually do their jobs. Or, we can keep on going like it has been all fouled up for decades, by keeping everything the same old same old hampster wheel for Veterans.

[Philip Rogers]

You can appeal travel pay, just like any VA claim and you have a one yr deadline, to do it. At my RO, (White River Jct., VT) the VA has recently changed veteran's mental health group meetings, by making them "open or walk-in meetings", thereby only paying travel pay, for one way, instead of the usual round trip. This hasn't affected my group, yet, but I can see the writing on the wall. I guess a way around it would be for your shrink to write a prescription, requiring the veteran to attend the group meetings. My counselor has to make an appointment for each one of us in my group, each week, for us to receive travel pay.

Bear in mind, that any account the VA can deposit money in, they can withdraw money from. I recommend keeping an account "just for VA deposits" with a minimal balance and transferring all VA deposits, immediately, to another account, at another bank, just to protect yourself and your money. Yup, I'm paranoid! jmo

I fax my travel forms, to the travel office, these days, and generally get paid within 5-10 days.

pr