BVA Appeal Closed 9/5/24 - Awaiting Signature since 8/28/24

[navyvet2009]

Hi all,

Long time reader and fan of this community and it's forum. Finally decided to make an account to post with and help other users after dealing with a lot of roadblocks from VARO and BVA. This community has been such wealth of information during my 13 year battle with the VA to finally get up to 100% P&T and am now fighting my effective date to when I filed back in 2011. My apologizes in advance if I posted in the wrong section or posted something previously answered in another forum. I am literally driving myself insane here and my anxiety is in overdrive as I wonder about my 8ish years of backpay that are currently being held hostage by VA.

 

The backstory as it pertains to this appeal for EED:

- Had a separate appeal for EED dismissed with BVA on 5/22/24. Decision letter was viewable the very same day (5/22/24) by the VA telephone assistance number and was promptly faxed for me to view. 

-I now have an appeal with BVA closed out on 9/5/24, and I have called the VA phone reps every afternoon around 1600 since 9/5 and have been told it has been awaiting signature since 8/28/24 and was last edited on 9/5/24, the same day it showed to me as closed out on VA.gov........however even today when I call, I am still being told it is awaiting signature & that a decision was drafted on 8/28/24. 

 

 

I suppose my question is: why would one BVA decision show immediately/same day after being closed. And this not having anything viewable after almost 2 weeks. The VARO/phone reps still aren't able to see what the decision is even today (9/9/24). Called the main DAV office in my area and was told by the lady there that a denial/dismissal would be viewable same or next day, sometimes takes up to 48 hours for VA reps to see, and she feels that this signature(s) taking almost 2 weeks now is definitely a good sign. Can anyone chime in with some type of insight as to whether this is typically good or bad or a con toss? I already know the only sure fire way to know, which is be patient and wait for the official decision to come in the mail....just looking for insight from some folks more knowledgeable than me when it comes to dealing with BVA decisions since AMA.

 

[Rattler]

First off welcome to Hadit.com. And thanks for jumping in the water with the rest of us.

I think I can answer your question.  I received 3 years back pay on an EED dating to 2017.  It was in the 6 figures range.  It took 3 signatures to sign off on it. I will tell you to check va.gov on a daily basis insted of call 800 Betty or the DVA. They can both view your file in the VBMS system.  Look at the section where it shows what amount the VA is paying you each month. The back pay will show up there long before you get a decision letter.

[brokensoldier244th]

1-800 people have a limited view of the veterans file- mostly the notes left on  it after it has been touched for some reason, which are manually entered and vary in their usefulness. 

You'd get better info from a VSO or VERA rep(Google, there is a website). VERA reps work for VA, sand are usually public contact, VSRs or raters, and have clearance to see your claim folder. 

[broncovet]

Many/most of us have been through something similar.  Im 100 percent and also appealed the effective date and won..  

    My advice is to get a hobby.  Go fishing.  Play chess.  Do woodworking.  Pick your own.  It is a great time to make a financial plan.  Since your plan would be different with a 10,000 dollar check than it would be with a 100,000 check, you can make it in 3 tiers:  4000 to 10000, 10,000 to 30,000 and 30,000 to 120,000 etc.  You have a better idea of possible effective dates than we do.  

   Mine was something like this:

7000 to   Pay off bills (3000).  Donate 700 to church.  Donate 70 to hadit to keep it going for other Vets.  Celebrate with 350 dolllars.  (Take a trip, buy a bicycle,etc  do something you like). Lets round off you have 4000 left over.  Put 1000 in savings and start investing the other 3000.  

24,000 to 50,000.  Pay off bills.  Donate 10 percent to church and donate 300 to hadit.  Celebrate with 2000 dollars.  Maybe Take your wife to colorado, like I did.  Put 3000 in savings, and invest the balance in a diversified portfolio such as Warren Buffets VOO which is an ETF consisting of a little bit of each of 500 stocks.  It gains around 10 to 12 percent per year, tho some years the s and p 500 will go down.  Its ok for the long haul.  

50,000 to 100k plus.  Pay off bills, Donate to church (10 percent) and hadit say 1000.  You can think about a car.  I have a 2024 Maverick Lariat Hybrid.  It gets 43 miles per gallon.  It costs about half of what a full size pickup costs.  It would be ok to finance most of it after you put some down.  After savings, again, build a portfolio.

   I get dividends every month, I wont say how much.  My retro has grown with wise investments.  

    I dont wait on my VA check, I get several dividend checks (electronic deposits) each month from my diversified portfolio of mostly dividend paying stocks.  Some pay quarterly dividens, some monthly and, I even have a weekly dividend payer.  

    I put God first and he blesses me.  I also help others as God so directs.  I help at my church when needed.    I dont wait on VA checks.  Its a self imposed prison.  Sure, I pay my bills with my VA check, but mostly those are paid automatically a few days before they are due.   My hobbies are travel, (visiting grandchildren is several states), my Ford Maverick, and looking at other cars, woodworking, time with family and friends with church, exercise, taking care of my wife,  and eating healthy food.  

[Tbird]

@broncovet Excellent post.

[ShrekTheTank]

Bronco is right on.

I have had 3 back pay events and waiting on the 4th.

The first two paid off all of our debt (granted we were working on paying it all off).  These amounts were 15K and 20K, and I will say being debt free is amazing!

The last one for 25k came a week after my wife had blown up the engine in her car.  We went to the dealership and were shopping and found a really good deal on a new car that was a manager driver for a year.  They still considered it new at the time as it was never sold.  This gave some really good ability to barter.  It was at 33K for the car and my wife was determined to not have to make a car payment (we knew the amount was coming from the VA at this point).  

Anyway she got them down to 25K and did payments for 4 years.  My wife kept asking what if we just paid it off in the next week?  They kept lying to us to make us do payments and not pay it off, saying it would hurt our credit and we needed to make at least 3 payments.  

This did not happen as 3 days later the VA back payment came in and we went to the bank and paid it.  It was an amazing feeling to be free of debt and be able to do this.  We also donated to a dog rescue and to Hadit!  

This current EE date I am fighting might be soon (waiting for 14 years now).  This one we have stock, an emergency fund, and a nice vacation.  

We are in a much better place now and looking to retire early.  This is truly a blessing.

Whatever you decided to do with it, do it to enrich your life.  Take back your life from all the crap out there and forge something you want!