GI Bill Housing Allowance Monthly Checks Will Be Delayed, Says VA Email
Bad news for college veterans relying on GI Bill housing allowance monthly pay that may impact other benefits like Veteran Readiness and Employment.
An email went out today indicating payments will be delayed to at least April 3, 2023. That is assuming VA is able to reconstructed its “pay file” to deliver it to Treasury.
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Electronic payments are anticipated as being completed on April 3. Paychecks should go out the same day meaning the checks may arrive April 5 per the agency.
There are over 500,000 veterans and family members using GI Bill and related benefits, most of whom will be impacted by the GI Bill delays. Some of these veterans receive up to $4,000 per month.
This means the agency’s computer glitch will result in veterans and family members not timely receiving millions of dollars in benefits.
RELATED: History Of The GI Bill
GI Bill Housing Allowance Delay Impact
Veterans who rely on their GI Bill housing allowance payment should immediately contact their banks and creditors. Direct payments from veterans’ checking accounts will be short until the payments from the agency arrive. Any automated payments may draw down the accounts resulting in insufficient fund charges.
The Department of Veterans Affairs circulated an email March 30, 2023, to Veteran Service Organizations. That email explains that a computer glitch apparently resulted will delay subsistence payments by at least a few days in April 2023. If the agency cannot repair the pay file, it will take longer.
GI Bill Housing Allowance Notice
“Late this afternoon, VA learned that the March 2023 Monthly Housing Allowance for Chapter 33 recipients failed to process. We have notified the VA Inspector General of the situation and are currently conducting a root cause analysis, but this process failure will impact the timely delivery of the housing allowance scheduled for distribution on Friday, March 31, 2023. VA is working to reconstruct the pay file to deliver to Treasury as soon as possible, and anticipates EFT payments will reach Veterans by Monday, April 3, 2023 and checks will be mailed out the same day.”
The agency plans to sent out notifications to impacted veterans be email shortly with information to provide creditors to help avoid financial hardship.
GI Bill Delay Resources
“We are mindful of the stress this may create for our student Veterans and their families. VA is preparing electronic communications to inform Veterans and provide them with a letter, which they can share with their creditors in the event this delay impacts their ability to meet personal financial obligations. VA is also contacting schools to ensure they are aware of the situation and are prepared to provide any additional support that may be needed. VA will provide an update upon confirmation of the payment date and any additional information uncovered by the root cause analysis.”
Over the years, VA has erred in processing monthly payments to veterans in college using the GI Bill, Veteran Readiness and Employment, Chapter 35, and related programs. Sometimes, the delays are resolved swiftly. Sometimes the delays take a week or longer.
GI Bill Tech Glitch
VA has historically struggled implementing technology fixes to ensure GI Bill beneficiaries receive uninterupted access to the benefits they rely on. In a 2018 Star Tribune story:
“On Wednesday, the VA announced that the information technology fixes will not be completed until December 2019 — more than a year past the original Aug. 1 deadline for finishing this work. This is a national disgrace, one that should prompt congressional leadership to move quickly on short- and long-term solutions. A good start would be swift passage of a Senate bill that would prohibit schools from penalizing student veterans for late VA assistance payments. This would address a major concern that students with accounts in arrears due to delayed payments may not be allowed to enroll for 2019 coursework. Given that the VA has said the tech problems will continue until the end of 2019, this protection is a sensible step.”
Decentralized management of VA has led to a nightmare and holocaust of veterans. Need serious authoritarian power to crush the shit bags managing the regional VA facilities and the lower level employees who refuse needed care should be jailed. The abusers should be executed.
Been getting these “thou shalt not” letters from VA secretary over the last three years. First it said that violence at the VA won’t be tolerated. That one was years ago. Now all of a sudden this week it’s “sexual harassment will not be tolerated.” Meanwhile, I’ve been denied care and laying around all fked up. How about a letter telling me they won’t do that or to come in and get surgery? I’ve not sexually harassed anyone or physically assaulted anyone there before. Like a letter stating that it won’t be tolerated will prevent it either. Meanwhile, half of them do need a smack so wtf?? The VA secretary should be smacking people around who work there so vets won’t have to. And what about someone psychotic who smacks someone and the taken to jail because of someone at the VA? When will the cop calling stop? Then turn around and help people post arrest with treatment to lessen legal problems after they’ve called the cops??????
Sue! Sue! Sue! Sue!
Especially after the last 20 years of American history, I think it’s time to admit that government is not something that this nation does well. Just look at how they fked up Iraq and then the crash in 2008. Then we had the Trump clown show where he sat on his balls and insulted people for four years while the economy overheated. Killing people overseas and jailing people here at home is the best that American government has to offer. Shelling out cash is the best thing to do because they fk everything else up. Now, Europe is different. The UK has a successful national healthcare system. Germany has great public services. Why? Because they don’t have so many competing and conflicting interests politically, they’re smarter, they share the same values and agree on more things, and they actually put some money into these things and see them through. We spend ungodly fortunes on the military and it’s social darwinism and hyper capitalism domestically. Competitive, adversarial, every man for himself, half ass funding, half ass effort, and you’re protected from your actions by the government if you work for the government (corruption.) That and you have large swaths of the population that are against the government, don’t want to pay taxes, or don’t see government as being benefitial to them because they aren’t! The only experience that many Americans will ever have with government of any kind is if they get arrested!
Just give every veteran a $2000 check for life and be done with it. That way we can buy insurance and cover education costs. Roll up the VHA and the political theatre, the grifting, the parasites, and the bullshitters. Burn em out with a flame thrower, sell the buildings, and put an end to all the bullshit.