Don't Feed The Sharks
This post is about Veteran Affairs Disability Benefit Claim Sharks, or predatory companies that are taking advantage of veterans.
Lately, there has been much talk about “For-profit” or commercial businesses that “help” veterans with their VA disability claims. The problem is that some of these companies are taking large chunks of money from current and future disability payments from the VA.
The problem is that many veterans have nowhere to turn to help fill out their paperwork. The Veteran’s Administration intentionally makes the process cumbersome and the VFW, which offers free services, is either too busy or the veteran seeking assistance isn’t aware that the VFW is available to assist.
So they feel as if they have no choice so they hit up Google and they locate what appears to be a reputable company to help. These companies often make them sign a contract that obligates a percentage of the veteran’s VA Disability payments to this company, and often these payments do not expire, meaning that the company will receive payments
If the veteran receives $1,000 a month from the VA and the contract with the predatory company states that 10% of all payments go to the company, which is $100 a month, or $1,200 a year. Let’s say that the veteran lives another 25-years, which equates to $30,000 that the predatory company will make off of this contract from one single veteran. However, to the veteran, $100 a month is a very small amount to pay to finally get the disability claims settled.
I couldn’t imagine having to play the VA Disability Claim game for as long as some of the veterans have had to play it. I got very lucky and from start to finish it took me just over three years to get my claims started, and finished, but I also approached it as a part-time job working 10-20 hours some weeks on them.
I did a ton of research, calling my doctors, and so on. But I understand that many veterans can’t dedicate, nor should they have to, to it. I also have a disability that the VA really can’t ignore or deny. But this post isn’t about me.
Recently Angry Cops did a video on this very topic.
https://pactactinfo.org/
Author
Welcome to the Average Joe Weekly blog. This is basically my place on the web where I can help spread some of the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years. I served 10+ years in the Marine Corps on Active Duty, but that was some 25 years ago.
