GI Bill claims backing up

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

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Keyland Howard just finished serving four years in the Marines. He says he's having problems paying his bills.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- Veterans in the Bay area and all over the country are waiting for their money due to a backlog on GI Bill funds.

Keyland Howard just finished serving for four years in the Marines, but now he feels like he's letting his family down.

"I'm not getting paid, and it's horrible," Howard said.

The money he was expecting from the new GI Bill hasn't showed up. Funding from the bill is supposed to pay for school and living expenses.

"I'm in debt now, and I can't pay for the rent, my bills, my family," Howard said.

As it turns out, there are many other veterans in his same position. The Department of Veterans Affairs says there's a backlog of more than 50,000 GI Bill claims. And they've already processed 80,000.

"It's a brand new GI Bill program that's very complex, which makes it complicated," said VA spokesperson Ron Scoggins. "We've never had to deal with anything like this before."

The post 9/11 GI Bill went into effect in August.

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And to top it off, the VA is going through the claims manually. Scoggins says a new computer system isn't in place yet.

"Most of the claims are taking 45 to 60 days to process," Scoggins said. "It takes about an a hour and a half to process each claim."

The VA says veterans can arrange for an advanced payment. All they have to do is come by the local VA in St. Petersburg, or they can check in with their schools to see if there are any financial aid options.

"The schools can contact my office, and we can work with them on what the status of their claim is," Scoggins said.

The VA is also going to hire more workers to help process the GI Bill claims faster.

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