[RETVET-INFO] Lawmakers Scramble To Stop Vet Pension Scams

From: RETVET-INFO@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <RetVet-Info@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 14:44:32 -0500
Lawmakers Scramble To Stop Vet Pension Scams 

 

By Leo Shane III

Published: June 8, 2012

 

 

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers are searching for ways to protect veterans from pension
scam in the wake of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report saying those
payouts are being targeted by unscrupulous financial firms.

Certain disabled veterans and older low-income veterans are eligible for
thousands of dollar annually in Veterans Affairs pensions. The GAO report found
that some firms are charging veterans thousands of dollars to navigate the
pension process, even though such services aren't needed.

Investigators also found companies coaching veterans to hide certain financial
assets to qualify for the pensions, and taking a cut of the payouts.

Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have proposed new legislation
to allow the VA authority to re-examine those pension claims, fixing a loophole
which prevents them from looking at certain sheltered financial assets when
calculating the payouts.

A group of Democratic senators has also called for the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau to look into penalties for companies that give veterans
misleading or fraudulent advice. Members of Congress also called on VA officials
to step up their education efforts, to prevent veterans from falling victim to
the scams.

Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla., asked veterans and their families to send their stories
to his office http://rooney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content
<http://rooney.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3401&Itemi
d=37> &view=article&id=3401&Itemid=37 to help create a database of problem
companies "so we can help shut these scams down."

In 2011, the VA pension program system paid $4.3 billion to 517,100 veterans or
their survivors.

 

 

OTHER RESOURCES:  

New York Times Article:  Veterans Pension Program Is Being Abused, GAO Report
Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/veterans-pension-program-is-being-abused-re
port-says.html?_r=2

Department of Veterans Affairs http://www.va.gov/

GAO http://www.gao.gov/

 

 

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SOURCE:  US Stars and Stripes (The Ruptured Duck) article at
http://www.stripes.com/blogs/the-ruptured-duck/the-ruptured-duck-1.160117/lawmak
ers-scramble-to-stop-vet-pension-scams-1.179869

 

 

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[RETVET-INFO] Lawmakers Scramble To Stop Vet Pension Scams

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