{"id":39984,"date":"2019-09-19T20:11:36","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T20:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/19\/va-concedes-its-debt-collection-systems-leave-veterans-confused-frustrated\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:18:05","slug":"va-concedes-its-debt-collection-systems-leave-veterans-confused-frustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/education-transition\/2019\/09\/19\/va-concedes-its-debt-collection-systems-leave-veterans-confused-frustrated\/","title":{"rendered":"VA concedes its debt collection systems leave veterans confused, frustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans Affairs officials acknowledged to lawmakers that the department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/11\/court-orders-va-to-cover-veterans-emergency-room-debts\/\" target=_blank>debt collection practices<\/a> remain \u201ctoo clunky and too confusing\u201d to ensure families aren\u2019t left in financial jeopardy. And they promised additional reforms within the next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are too often fragmented, uncoordinated and highly variable in our processes,\u201d said Jon Rychalski, chief financial officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, told members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/08\/23\/house-chairman-calls-for-nationwide-veterans-hospital-stand-down-to-bolster-suicide-prevention-training\/\" target=_blank>House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cFrankly, we have a way to go before we can declare success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last fiscal year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/20\/should-veterans-have-to-pay-for-vas-benefits-errors\/\" target=_blank>VA overpayments<\/a> to veterans totaled roughly $1.6 billion, on par with mistakes in previous years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cases include mistakes in disability payouts after beneficiary information is updated, payments that conflict with other federal benefits like drill pay, changes in college enrollment that lower GI Bill eligibility, and simple math errors by department employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/20\/should-veterans-have-to-pay-for-vas-benefits-errors\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/42627830051_f443e27ced_o.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Should veterans have to pay for VA\u2019s benefits errors?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">New legislation would limit how much money VA officials can recoup after making benefits mistakes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials from Veterans Education Success said one in four recipients of GI Bill benefits face some time of overpayment-related debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department sent out more than 600,000 debt collection notices to veterans and their families in fiscal 2018 in an effort to recover the money. Members of the House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee said too often they hear from veterans who face significant financial hardship as a result of those actions, even when they incur the debt through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cVA has a lot of work ahead to reduce the number of overpayments sent to veterans,\u201d said Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H. \u201cReceiving these notices of balance due can prove particularly burdensome to veterans living on fixed incomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA has changed policies in recent years that required withholding future checks until the debt was fully repaid, instead opting for automatic 12-month repayment plans to ease the burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But lawmakers and outside advocates said in many cases the debt \u2014 which often tops $2,500, according to committee statistics \u2014 is still too large to comfortably deduct from monthly payouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe resultant debts owed by veterans often cause severe financial hardships for veterans and their families,\u201d said Shane Liermann, deputy national legislative director for benefits at Disabled American Veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn many cases, the burden of repaying these debts can negatively impact a veteran\u2019s quality of life, put them at risk of homelessness and affect their access to VA health care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers pressed VA on making hardship waivers for debt collection easier to obtain, and for broader use of VA\u2019s authority to wipe out the debt completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rychalski said officials have to balance their responsibility to taxpayers to recover overpayments with veterans\u2019 financial health, but said the department is reviewing how cases are handled to see if systemic changes are needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/11\/court-orders-va-to-cover-veterans-emergency-room-debts\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635707586565964776-gettyimages-453180904jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Court orders VA to cover veterans\u2019 emergency room debts<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The ruling could cost the department up to $6.5 billion in past and future reimbursement expenses.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said within the next year he expects VA to offer a new online portal where veterans can monitor any outstanding debts, and new department policies to minimize the number of debt notices sent to veterans from various sub-agencies within VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The department is also targeting a new online debt payment system within the next three years. Rychalski acknowledged that timeline is slower than many would like, but said the process will require coordinating a host of aging computer systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers urged more speed on the solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe clock is running,\u201d Pappas said. \u201cEvery day this isn\u2019t enacted is a day where a veteran is potentially put in dire financial straits.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last fiscal year, VA overpayments totaled roughly $1.6 billion, prompting 600,000 debt collection letters to veterans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":7,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,7,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-39984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-education-transition","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YW54ZHEGURFZJHEY7TW2RCZLZE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/09\/19\/va-concedes-its-debt-collection-systems-leave-veterans-confused-frustrated\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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