Veterans fume after VA partially blames them for overpayments it claws back

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

June 1, 2025, 7:01 AM EDT


Christopher Praino signed a waiver relinquishing his disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs after he was ordered to active duty in fall 2019. In a letter, the VA confirmed it would terminate his roughly $965 monthly payments because, by law, he could not receive both VA benefits and active-duty pay at the same time.

But the agency did not fully halt the payments. Instead, it sent various monthly amounts over the next three years, ranging from $0 to over $2,000, Praino’s records show. “The VA never stopped,” he said, “after response after response, call after call, walk-in after walk-in.”

In 2023, despite Praino’s repeated efforts to rectify the inconsistent installments that should have ended years ago, the VA informed him in a letter that he owed nearly $68,000. That year, the government began automatically clawing some of the money out of his military paychecks, which he uses to support five children and his wife, leaving him in dire financial straits. “No words can tell you the emotional, mental and physical heartache I have every day dealing with this,” he said. “It’s eating away at me.”

In a recent congressional oversight hearing focused on why the VA regularly overpays veterans and then asks for the money back, agency officials partially blamed veterans for the exorbitant errors, telling lawmakers that some veterans have been failing to report eligibility changes that would have lowered their monthly disability compensation or pension payments. But Praino and two other veterans told NBC News they did notify the VA in a timely manner. Yet, records show the agency continued overpaying them for months, sometimes years, before asking for the money back.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/veterans-fume-va-partially-blames-overpayments-claws-back-rcna207961

[sop]

1. Meanwhile, Elon's federal loans totaling $830,045 were forgiven.

"The Boring Company's PPP loans were forgiven: The Boring Company, founded by Musk, received federal funding in the form of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in 2020 and 2021. The total amount forgiven between both loans, after interest, came out to $830,045."

[Hugin]

2. From personal experience...

If you are receiving overpayments from any source, put the overages in an escrow account. Don’t spend the money, no matter how tempting.

Someday they WILL catch up with you and you can be done with them by handing them a check.

If you are lucky enough you might be able to keep any interest.

[Wonder Why]

3. Excellent answer, Hugin. Any payment, not just overpayments, should go into a separate account

(preferably interest-bearing since you probably will only be asked for the initial amount sans interest back). Then send certified mail to money-sender telling them that you have received money improperly and they have 90 days to rectify it or you will consider it yours).

Could help in court.

When there is enough in interest, consider paying an attorney for advice. If poor, immediately look for a free attorney organization to get advice on how to proceed without waiting for enough interest.

[Don Spikers]

5. Your right on.

I agree with you and thought the same thing. He admitted it was a over payment. He should of saved it.

I found this article interesting, but was a one time pmt. 2016 National Guard bonus. Maybe they will come out ok also.




https://money.howstuffworks.com/your-boss-overpays-you-do-you-have-give-the-money-back.htm

[GiqueCee]

4. Smells like...

... entrapment. And, of course, liars gonna lie. Blaming veterans for the VA's own fuck-ups is classic Red Hat bullshit, although this has been going on since long before red hats became a symbol of malicious stupidity.

[Deminpenn]

6. My experience was

the VA continued to pay a small disability payment to my dad for several months after he passed away. I thought the first payment and his death just missed each other, but then the payments continued for several more months. I figured the VA must know of the death because they sent 10 free copies of his death cert as well as a flag. When I called the VA about the continuing disability payments, the person I spoke with told me "the right hand doesn't always know what the left hand is doing" and said he would get the death reported to the right person/department, which he did and the overpayments were stopped and electronic transactions reversed.

My advice would be if you have to contact the VA about an overpayment, ask for the division/dept/office that handles payments when you speak to a general VA customer service rep.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. The day after my mom died a decade ago

I contacted both OPM (since she was getting a survivor's annuity and also had BCBS under FEHB for health insurance) and SS (which she was also getting as a survivor) to let them know and sent them anything they requested to verify (don't recall the whole process but I expect it included the death certificate).

I did the same with her life insurer (she had her own term insurance), bank, her single credit card, her cable service, and then until we sold the house, I paid the utilities (gas, electric, water/sewer, telephone), her homeowner's insurance (she had paid the real estate taxes literally a few days before she passed), and kept track of every payment (and had a spreadsheet). My sis had an estate lawyer take care of her final income taxes.

I didn't wait and assume they would magically "know".