I received this email today from a contractor working within the VA system. If you have received any kind of a lump sum payment, and/or have compensation coming from multiple government sources then you better be familiar with this. You have to take charge of your situation, if you don’t you’ll get bureaucratically steamrolled. km
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One of our friends received a notice recently that said that he owed a debt for back payment on something he knew nothing about. The system does not seem to play very nice. DFAS will turn the “debt” over to a bill collector and mess up your credit… all the while you had no idea
anything was going on… DFAS may have your proper address to send your combat related compensation or retirement stuff but somehow between that department and the one next door they do not share information.
It falls 100% on you to find this junk out and figure out how to get out of the pit.
This is extremely important – I do not have a way to know if you have taken care of this or not – you have to contact them – there is a form you can fill out to have this paid from your VA compensation.
The link below goes to the main page dealing with SBP (Survivor Benefit program)… I do not really understand the program and it talks around in circles so you might have to call them, while your sipping mint tea and have nothing to do. It would be best to be sober when talking to DFAS but have your high blood pressure medicine nearby. Remember it is another human being on the other end of the phone just trying to make a living. They do not make the rules, they get yelled at by most callers, be the one that says, “Thank you”,” Yes, Sir,” “Your fantastic,” “I know you have been wonderful and helped me in every way that you can, but I still have a problem, can you guide me to a person who can assist me in resolving my problem (Own the problem, after all it is your problem.)
http://www.dfas.mil/retiredmilitary/provide/sbp.html
Between the 25th and 36th month after retirement you can exit the SBP. When you get married you have a certain length of time to let them know, if you get divorced there is a process to cancel the program but you have to do it the way DFAS needs it done.
If you do not know if you are in or out, if you owe or don’t you really need to check on this one because it is like a thief sneaking into your house in the dark of the night, it will come at the worst possible time. Please check it out and then let me know your status.
The link above gives a lot of information that should be considered.
Hi Karl! My husband and I have learned just how crazy and convoluted working with Millington and DFAS is. My husband and I are retired reservists. He is 61 and should be collecting his retired pay as we speak but it’s 14 months past his 60th birthday and he still has yet to get a dime. My 60th birthday occurs in June of 2019 and my package for collecting my reserve retired pay is in and acknowledged.
His situation is somewhat more complicated than my “cut and dried” situation, fraught with half of it going to his ex-wife. He’s been having issue with the RSBP. It seems he’s stuck with paying into that cash cow because he didn’t submit a 2656 within the allotted time frame after remarrying. So, the corrected form they had him fill out was subsequently changed over there! They apparently have the right to do that! He was on the phone with the one of two folks that are authorized to do that, yesterday, as a response to his query why someone changed his form!
In the process, I learned that because I didn’t know to fill one of those 2656s way back when (I was in a very small unit that didn’t know anything about this stuff), and because I was single with no dependents of age 22 or below, I won’t have to pay that!
It boggles both our minds. I’m just glad I won’t have to pay into that. They FORCE this stuff down service member’s throats!
I’ve taken careful notes about this whole journey and will be writing about it, AFTER all of our pay has settled out and is coming in. I’m a blogger too (whidbeyislandgirl.net).
It’s crazy. The only one thing he has going? He only has ten more months left to pay into that program and he can opt out, since the counter started at his 60th birthday. There is an appeals process, and he plans to use it. So, I’m still taking notes.
That is our story for now.