Final Decisions from the BVA
In today's mail I got a letter from the BVA with the decisions concerning my disabilities. Everything was pretty much as expected. What surprised me was that my back pay was direct deposited today as well. The amount was pretty close to what I had guessed it would be. After reading the letter I realized that I need some more documentation to send to them and then I should be able to get the rating for bipolar disorder raised from 30% to 50%. I hope that the letter that I sent to them a few days ago succeeds in getting me the correct effective date for that.I made an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my individual ratings and their effective dates. The reason for this is because I need to know when I have had an item service connected for more than 10 years and when a particular rating is 20 years old. The VA can't deny service connection on anything that is more than 10 years service connected and can't lower a rating that is more than 20 years old.
I also confirmed that most creditors can't go after my disability pay. The federal government, however, can. I'm still not sure if they can take away my disability pay if I default on my student loans but it looks like they can. I'm 51 years old and have so much student loan debt that I will never be able to pay it off unless I get a dramatic increase in income. Going from 60% service connected to 80% service connected does increase my income some, but not enough to pay back those loans and live by myself too. Until I can get to 100% service connected I will need at least a part-time job or a successful website.
Labels: BVA, VA Benefits
posted by Unknown @ 5:01 PM
6 Comments
