Delayed Housing Payments Impacting 180,000 Student Veterans

VFW requests patience and understanding from landlords

WASHINGTON (October 9, 2018) — The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is urging tens of thousands of student veterans to immediately contact the Department of Veterans Affairs at 888-GIBILL-1 (or 888-442-4551) if they are facing a financial hardship due to delayed VA housing payments.

The VA said that as many as 180,000 student veterans housing payments were delayed this month in part due to computer updates to reflect benefit changes through the Forever GI Bill. Until the problem is fixed, VA is requiring benefits processors to work overtime and weekends, while many student veterans may be forced to raid their individual savings accounts or borrow money from their families to hopefully avoid late fees, ruined credit ratings or eviction.

"The VA reports that education claims will be processed immediately, as will disbursements, but if student veterans do not achieve resolution within three business days, I urge them to contact the VFW through our 1StudentVeteran@vfw.org email address,” said VFW National Commander B.J. Lawrence. "We will intervene directly with the VA to ensure your housing allowance is correct and paid. In the meantime, I would encourage all student veterans to contact their landlords and explain the VA’s computer processing problem, and for landlords to be patient and understanding, because they will be paid.”