Veterans reminded of upcoming changes to benefit payments

The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that beginning Saturday, April 20, veterans’ benefit payments for a veteran or his/her family members will only be sent to one bank account.  The change is being made to help protect veterans and their family members from fraud and to ensure that payments are paid on time, according to the Veterans Benefits Administration.

This shift in payment methods is happening as a part of the VA’s efforts to modernize the 50-year-old, antiquated GI Bill payment system.  Once fully deployed, the platform will improve claims processing and customer service by providing direct, online, one-stop access to GI Bill benefits and information, according to the release.  This financial change will impact nearly 50,000 of 800,000 total GI Bill beneficiaries.

“Fortunately, the VA has all of the contact information for these veterans, and we have successfully managed many transitions like this in the past,” said Kerr County Veterans Services Office spokesperson Jennifer Sanchez.  The statement goes on to say that “in fact, we have already transitioned all other VA benefit payments to one account – education programs are the remaining outliers.”  The VA will be actively reaching out to these students through text message, phone, and email on a weekly basis through April 20.  No veteran will miss a benefits payment of any type.

For students who fail to update their bank information by the deadline, the VA will consolidate their payments on their behalf and elect their non-education benefit pay account as their primary bank account.

The easiest way for beneficiaries to make the necessary change is to visit va.gov/change-direct-deposit/ and follow the links included on that page.