Be Wary of “Veteran Organizations” Bearing “Help”
Dec 09 2009
I have recently learned of a couple of organizations I think are using the front of helping with VA benefits as a way to meet prospective customers. These groups solicit for your business. They offer to get you money from the VA for long term care cost, assisted living, or survivor benefits. Tread lightly around these offers.
I have no evidence or indication that these organizations have or will cause harm. One has the Better Business Bureau seal on its web site. On the surface, they appear legitimate. So why are my senses peaked?
• Because both organizations have at their base, a financial services firm.
• Because neither of the organizations is an official Veteran Service Organization (VSO). VSOs are chartered by the VA to act as an official VA representative for members on VA matters.
• Because I question the motives behind a financial service firm’s interest in helping military members with issues that get them nothing in return—except the likelihood of finding new customers and getting access to your accounts.
• The process, bureaucracy and time involved in helping members with VA programs is substantial so these organizations (the financial service firms at their root) are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts?
• They are ‘helping’ in an area that is not their core business.
• I can’t get a satisfactory answer about how they make their money.
• It just so happens that helping with some of these VA programs provides access to a military member’s complete financial information.
If you need help learning about VA programs or with a VA application process, I highly recommend you work with an approved VSO. It’s their job to help you at no cost. To find a VSO check here. You can also check with your state VA department and your state’s network of county veteran service officers. Find your county office here.
If someone approaches you to help with a VA application, claim, or appeal, check to see if they are a VSO. Chances are they won’t be because VSOs don’t solicit for your business, you have to find them. It’s a too-good-to-believe story if there ever was one.
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UPDATE 20 July 2010
Based on the story of one of our MOAA members and this Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine article, the picture on these commercial financial firms parading as Veteran Service Organizations (VSO) is starting to develop.
Once in the front door by stating they can help get you VA’s Aid and Attendance money, they want to reorganize your finances in trusts and annuities claiming it is how they make you eligible for the money. The Businessweek article and our MOAA member tell the same story.
The VA’s Aid and Attendance program is to help provide extra money to those veterans and their spouses who have long term care needs. The VA also has a program called Housebound that serves a similar purpose.
Bottom line: If you want to apply for these programs, work with an official Veteran Service Office. They will do the job for free and won’t be selling you anything or asking to manage your money. Plus it is their mission to work VA issues and only VA issues. These financial firms don’t care about your VA claim; they just want access to your money and to sell you something. See the article above for how to find your VSO.
What are the names of these organizations?
Shane: Excellent article and links that will help many who are just starting the long treak into the vast VA disability claim wilderness. The State Veterans Department VSO is the most reliable. The DAV would get a 2nd vote, but only if the DAV VSO and vet meet face to face. The VFW is more cold than hot – mostly due to the fact that most VFW posts are small and lack the resources to send VSOs to a VA regional office for training. American Legion – ditto. I have not tried the VVA in this area, so don’t know about them. Help from Congressman or Senator is minimal, but they can at least get an answer if a disability claim is active. They do not have much interest in helping vets. Each Congressman and Senator really needs a Veteran Assist expert in their office focused on dealing with the VA one-on-one regarding individual Vet claims. There are people in the slot, but without the knowledge and training to be of much help except to send cover letters of inquiries on top of the vets letters which may be poorly worded.
Hopefully the MOAA mag will make mention of your article and direct folks to the MOAA website for the links. sent to the VA Regional Office via my Congressman
Charles Walters
LtCol USMC-Ret
My Vote is strongly in favor of your local congressman. Mine helped me quite a bit in getting the VA to at lest do somethng. Actually, he was/is so good, they tapped him to be the new Secretary of the Army. John McHugh is a good man from my point of view. I know, it was his staff that did all the work, but he still was the “boss”
The local County VA advisor did a lot of talking and only said, no, I don’t think you can do that. Through the internet, I keep up to date and in my case, I guess I knew the facts. One of my prime souces of information is right here on the MOAA web site.
Thanks for your help.
Is there some reason the organizations that you have written about that veterans should be ‘wary of’ are not named?
Art Irish
COL, USA (Ret)
Shane,
You are right on the money with your article. It is about time someone begins to question these Veteran Organization’s.I have a VA disability claim that has been pending for EIGHT YEAR’s! My Vets service rep is the DAV, of which I am a life member. During this period their support runs luke warm to cold. Right now, it is very cold.
Ditto with the MOPHA. My requests to them for assistance has been rebuffed not once but twice over the years. I’ll not ask them for any assistance.
Furthermore, I advise Vets to self learn everything they can about filing any claim. Depending on Vet Organizations will result in frustration and uneeded aggrivation.
Cpt. (Ret) James Monaghan
USA SF
Thanks for your analysis. We have already had our suspicions, and have refused to “take the bait”. Keep up the good work!
I agree completely with the author and LTC Walters. My problem is having the VSO co-located with the VA as I think they might as well work for the VA themselves. I have gotten minimal help from the VSO at the Atlanta VA. It is pathetic. I wanted help getting files, getting an audit redone, getting some other things accomplished, and even though I am a life-time member, would do just as well not having anyone representing me. They need to be a lot more proactive.
I had asked for help with my claims and an erroneous audit, but got nothing. No response back from the VSO. I am going to want some help to go back and have my records reviewed to get the disability retirement they should have given me back in 2005, but they didn’t want to because it would cost too much. Any idea what VSO would be the best to help me? I am a member of the DAV, the American Legion, and soon the VFW, but don’t know if any of them can help, so if anyone knows a VSO that can help me with that, I would sure appreciate it.
Lesson to be learned here: Just because you join an organization, and pay for membership, even a lifetime member, doesn’t mean that you will get better results, but maybe you will. Unfortunately, I know more than the VSO and they haven’t helped worth beans.
Hopefully, others will get better results.
God Bless America and OUR AMERICAN SOLDIERS.
Very Respectfully,
David Thomas
LTC, FA, USAR (Retired)
Shane your article about being wary of “Veteran Organizations” bearing “help” was outstanding. A similar question arose during a Chapter meeting about “Charitable organizations” requesting “help.”
In this day and age it seems we’re unable to ascertain the validity of one charity from another. We’re all bombarded with requests for money, but which one should I give to? Which one is a rip-off? How do they use my donations?
The website http://www.charitynavigator.org is a great source to answer questions about charitable organizations. At the website you type in the name of the charity and the site provides charity expenses (admin, fundraising, and program), efficiency rating, leadership salaries, mission and many other bits of information.
You do have to register (email address and password) but there are no other obligations. Also I haven’t experienced any unwanted emails from the site. I’ve passed this information along to our Chapter as well as our Council of Chapters.
I’d like to underline Col. Walter’s words, particularly “The DAV would get a 2nd vote, but only if the DAV VSO and vet meet face to face.” I’m disabled/retired (post six spine surgeries), and have had two experiences with the DAV. The first was superb… and face-to-face. The second, when I was applying to have my disability rating changed to ‘unemployable’ (as has been ruled by both Social Security and my church’s Pension Fund) had to be done by email and phone as there was no VSO within a hundred miles. It went precisely nowhere. The sense I got was that the people I talked to (and they kept changing) were well meaning but under-trained and over-worked. The DAV does a superb job, but they doit best in person. [I suspect, but can't say from personal experience, that the same is true of State VSOs, who probably also vary in terms of workload and updated training by state.]
I belong to a proactive VVA Chapter and the subject of Iraq.Afghanistan veterans came up at our last meeting. The general feeling was that not much help from the American Legion (for Vietnam Veterans)(and the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans had reported the similar problems. VVA met with the Iraq/Afghanistan veterans and assisted in advice for organization sharing experiences to help them form an organization tailored to the specific if somewhat different needs of the recent veterans.. VVA can help with routes for generic claims, but the new groups have more knowledge of the specific needs of new veterans. I do not know whether any of these organizations have VSO designations yet.
William F Foster
USN(ret)
Sir: Your observations are extremely close to the target center.
Despite having several named organizations as my representative, most of my limited success came from my own ignorant “fumbling in the dark” efforts; in contrast, the most helpful outside assistance came from the VA VR&E division.
Most of my asserted injuries were denied because medical records were never located, and, or course, no copies were provided to me, despite multiple requests. Stupidly, I neglected to make a copy of my military medical files, now forever lost.
Despite several years of exposure to jet engines, Navy gunfire, and repeated on-the-job weapons training, a PhD psychologist and MD psychiatrist double teamed me and obtained an admission against my own self interests that: (1) I hunted rabbits with a .22 rifle as a kid, and (2) had years of exposure to farm equipment noise — obviously the sourse of severe tinitus in both ears, and a 40% hearing loss in each ear, documented by a private practice PhD audiologist I’ve known for 30 years. We win some, but lose more. Hope the system is working better for the new veterans separating now. Obviously, I’m just an old Viet Nam veteran fool, who stupidly enlisted.
LLP
I was once shown a website which rated most charities in
accordance with the amount the charity receives and the
amount that is going to the professional group that’s calling
you. NOTE: this is not an advertising notre but I am quite
sure of their claim that they spend only something less than
TWO PER CENT. I have dealt with them for years. It is
AMERICARES.
While I try to help veterans in any way possible I see so many veterans help organizations as vehicles to help the founders and not so much the veterans.
Many of the organizations (names not mentioned) have a very high overhead and contribute less than 80% to program services. There are several web sites where one can check the use of funds. My money rarely goes to a charity that has less than 88% of receipts going to program services.
Gerry
I also obtained a copy of AIP’s (American Istitute of Philanhtropy)’ Charity Rating Guide (see http://www.charitywatch.org) ta5t rates all organizations and shows hoe much actualy goes to an organization after expenses (salaries, mailing, pocket stuffing etc. )
A good guide to opt out the bums.
Neil McGuinness
LtCol USAF-Ret
Shane, All,
I am not sure of the support that many vets are seeking but I would add one other organization that helped me through the retirement-VA disability benefits process; The American Veterans or AMVET.
The VA is like most Government organizations – understaffed, and difficult to navigate if you are unfamiliar. The AMVET representative has the background (OJT) and insite into the VA organization, rules and points of contact that many service members or dependents simply do not have the time to learn and understand. AMVETs are a non-profit group that will act as liaison to represent your case to the VA. Without anything to compare other than the stories from other vets, I can say that my AMVET representatives were true to their word; followed through on my VA disability package; answered specific questions concerning my dependents and me; and were willing to challenge any VA decisions which I did not agree.
I hope this may help.
Semper Fi,
Dan Johnson
When I drove for the DAV out of the Iowa City VA Med Ctr a few years ago, the VSO’s for the Legion, VFW and DAV all had offices in the hospital. That is a good place for a “face to face” with one of them.
Hello, What have you for information on the VA Benefits. Looks good but after reading you article I would like to see what you have. VA stands for Veterans Advantage and tells you how he (Scott Higgings) founder of VA wants to let all vets and mostly from the Vietnam time zone. He is also the CEO. It seems to be about all the discounts we as Vets can have when we buy Air Line fares,PC’s, Cruises, vacation rentals, Rail Bus ect. Please let me know if you have heard about this company.
Thank you for your time.
Myrle Saunders SFC USA RET.
It would be interesting to know who the “couple” of organizations are. It would also be good if they were offered the opportunity to respond to this article. It would be better if they responded and we could read their responses. I would not be surprised at all if the article was totally true. There’s an awful lot of uncorrodinated “thank the troops” public relations fluff without a lot of financial or policy follow through. The utilization of Reserve/Guard troops repetitively with out activating them for the duration is unethical and done merely because they’re cheaper. The paradigm of most of our government officials and the civilian population is “as long as I get mine, nuts to those who really serve”. But they won’t admit to that that because they want to portray themselves as patriots instead of the “flower power, peace at any price, America’s always wrong” people that infest our culture. Masquerading as helping the troops when all they’re out for is money has a long disgusting history at all levels of government and business. Publish their names and reponses so we can cut off all they’re really interested in, i. e. money.
thanks and right on the target! I often wonder why there are so many different veterans organizations that are competing for the same population. Maybe funding and recognition is the answer. One can only belong and contribute to just so many organizations – I know many who belong to the American Legion, VFW, VVA and others. We need to all focus on our new “greatest generation” of veterans and encourage them to get involved in one of our valid organizations.
I recently attended a seminar offering to help any veteran to obtain VA “Aide and Assistance”. The presentor stated quite clearly, “we will qualify you”. He claimed they had lawyers to help and I would presume doctors that would attest to your need. He did say that if there was extra work there would be a slight charge for the legal services.
I left with two thoughts: 1) they were encouraging veterans to defraud the government and 2) it was a scam operation.
All the help needed is available from our state VA counselor.
Carroll J. Jones, Sr., Major, USA, Retired
Another area that disturbs me is the proliferation of non-profit organizations claiming to help the military, active, wounded and disabled and seeking donations to do so. I know they are not all doing all the claim to do. Therefore I check them out through the BBB website.
Carroll J. Jones, Sr., Major USA Retired
You have tweaked my interest. Now please name the ones who are not legit.
I appreciate everyone’s interest in this topic. The intent of this article is to make you aware of organizations soliciting your business by claiming to work a VA claim and getting you money. I do not know if these organizations are dishonest or legit. My point is to ensure your radar is on and you are savvy consumers. If approached, check them out carefully and know what questions to ask.
Naming the organizations is not important. 1) I don’t want to libel them should they be legit. 2) If I named the two I know of, you may be approached by a third, fourth, or fifth organization I haven’t heard about. 3) If approached by an organization described, you may find them helpful and choose to work with them. At least you’ll go into the relationship with your eyes open. 4) By not naming them, you’re sensitive to any solicitation.
Hope this helps…Shane