NORTH PORT, Fla. — The Department of Veterans Affairs is pausing the collection of pension debts accrued by thousands of low-income veterans who received notification in the mail as lawmakers say they are looking into the issue.
10 Tampa Bay first introduced you to one of those veterans, North Port Marine Patrick McFeely, who got a letter from the VA saying he owed more than $108,000, racked up over a decade.
“I thought I was sinking,” McFeely said.
Pat, who turns 72 in January, began collecting Social Security nearly 10 years ago. He says he didn’t know it would impact his pension payments from the VA until he got the letter a few weeks ago.
The VA provides pension payments to wartime, low-income veterans based on self-reported income level. Pat says he didn’t know he needed to report his Social Security collection, given that it was also a federal agency.
In a statement, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes tells 10 Tampa Bay, that while the VA would traditionally verify income data, “Between 2011 and 2022, due to discrepancies in data matching, VA was unable to reliably verify the self-reported federal income of Veterans and survivors receiving pensions. When income verification resumed in July 2022, roughly 9,900 beneficiaries were determined to have higher income levels than self-reported. This resulted in VA pension overpayments which – in some cases – spanned many years.”
After our story, Pat says he got a call from the VA and another letter in the mail, explaining collection of his debt is “temporarily suspended.”
“As a result of recent legislative change, your case is being reviewed to determine if further action may be taken to provide debt relief," the letter reads.
It’s unclear what action will be taken, but the department is putting a pause on collecting all pension debts and on establishing new debts for another 30,000 veterans likely impacted.
“Recognizing the hardship and distress that these pension debts may cause, VA has paused the collection of all established pension debts and the establishment of new pension debts while we determine the path forward. Because this is a particularly vulnerable population of Veterans and survivors, VA is pursuing all available options to provide as much pension debt relief as possible,” Haynes statement reads.
“We will be reaching out directly to affected Veterans and survivors to let them know that pension debt collection has been paused while we pursue options for relief – and we will keep them updated throughout every step of this process. Additionally, to prevent issues like this from happening in the future, VA will be conducting a review to understand why the data discrepancies occurred and why it took so long to address.”
During a stop in Sarasota, roughly 30 miles from Pat’s North Port home, we asked the Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) what’s being done in Congress to address overpayment issues at the VA and with Social Security; the latter was documented in a 60 Minutes report.
It's a terrible problem that some of these folks are facing and these are people, our veterans, you know, our seniors that we've got to take care of,” Speaker Johnson said.
“There's a lot of thoughtful discussion and debate happening in Congress right now on what role Congress may play in trying to resolve some of that, some of those decisions will be made in the coming weeks, but it's a top priority for us,” Johnson added.
In the meantime, McFeely is grateful they aren’t collecting his debt at this point, though now he’s forced to navigate expenses without a pension he’s been getting for years.
“I got to pay my mortgage. You know, live, you know, it's not like I'm asking for something that I wasn't entitled to,” McFeely added. “I'm just hoping it gets resolved.”
The VA encourages veterans and survivors to visit their debt management website or call 800-827-0648.
If you are a veteran in crisis or concerned about one, you are encouraged to connect with qualified responders for confidential help. Many of them are veterans themselves. Call 988 and select 1