Medically retired but had SRB.....do you have to pay it back?

So after reading the policy posted by Michigan0782, I should NOT be paid the remaining installment if my injury was not combat related unless deemed so by the Secretary of the Military Department.
 
I too am very interested in knowing what the document is saying that I should receive my final payment. I was medically retired in December 2010 and my final payment was "overpaid" by $7600. I am now being told that is a debt and I owe it back. At the time, I didn't think I was overpaid because my final bonus payment would have been $7500 so it all matched up and I thought that was why I was paid that amount. Now I am appealing the "debt". In addition, the DoD has sent my case to federal collections because they say I am delinquent since I have not paid any money on it. But I have been going through the appeals process and responding to all their inquiries. I also had my tax return intercepted which was over $4k to pay this debt and I am still receiving letters from the federal collection agency saying that I am delinquent and further action will be taken if I do not pay the remaining debt in full within 10 days!

After calling both the federal collection agency and DFAS, they are saying there is nothing that can be done and I still owe the money even though it is going through the appeals process. Any info on the fact that I should receive my final bonus will really be helpful right about now....
What service are you in?
 
MaParker Sir & Everyone Else,
What about if our disability "occured in a combat zone" but is not combat related? They put on the front page first sentence of my 199 that my disability is "non combat related but occured in a combat zone". However at the end under section 10page 2 "If retired because of disability, the board recommended finding that: paragraph A: The soldiers retirement is not based on a disability from injury or disease received in the line of duty as a direct result of armed conflict or caused by an instrumentality of war and incurring in line of duty during a period of war as defined by law. Para C: Disability did not result from a combat related injury as defined in 26. U.S.C 104 and for purposes of 10 U.S.C. 10216(G). So can I get the rest of my SRB because of it occuring in a combat zone during a time of war (I was in a combat zone receiving hazardous duty pay)??? Now I know when I go to VA next week I have injuries and issues from combat that I'll be able to apply for CRSC I believe but the PEB didn't find any of them unfitting so didn't rate me on them (got 40% PDRL btw). I'm just trying to figure out if I'm eligible for the SRB via the DoD regs that were posted on here.
 
what I did was printed te reg out and took it to finance myself.
Was your disability "combat related"? From what I can tell, if it is not combat related then we do not pay anything back, but are not entitled to any remaining installments.
 
part of it yes. I'm being med boarded for chronic PTSD, Ankylosing spondylitis and degenerative disc disease
 
part of it yes. I'm being med boarded for chronic PTSD, Ankylosing spondylitis and degenerative disc disease
So you already got yours and your not done with the MEB part yet? I thought its not paid till after your retirement date? I already have my 199 I just figured I should wait till I get my orders to take it up there and show it to them
 
Well I have been totally screwed by DFAS. A year after I retired they claim they overpaid me by $7500 on my final pay. I assumed this was my final SRB bonus so no alams went up and I did not verify this amount when I received it. As soon as they sent me notification of the overpayment and that I now owe them $7500 PLUS interest, I sent them a letter of disagreement. They then told me I could request a waiver which I very promptly did. I received a letter back from them stating that my waiver has been received and is being sent to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) for review and a decision. In the meantime, I received a letter from DFAS stating that my account is now past due. I sent a letter asking how it was past due if I am challenging the debt and it is currently being reviewed by a board. I heard nothing back and assumed they realized their mistake. A few months later and I never received my expected tax return in Feb and when I called the IRS, they told me a government agency took it. Several days later, I received a letter from the treasury department saying they are the federal collection agency collecting the debt from DFAS. I immediately called the collection agency and told them that my alleged debt is being contested and currently awaiting a decision from the review board. They asked me to send them all information about this in which I did including the letters from DFAS acknowledging my request for waiver (non of which tells me to pay the debt during the appeal). I was able to get in touch with DFAS and they told me I was responsible to pay this debt during the review process. Well how was I supposed to know that? I would have been nice if they told me that from the start! Nothing from them on any of their letters stated this. Why would I think I was responsible for paying a debt that I didn't agree with and is currently being reviewed to determine if I do indeed even owe it? In the meantime DFAS has put a negative mark on my credit reports for being late on the debt. This is totally ridiculous that someone in DFAS made a mistake and now I am paying for it dearly. First of all why should I have to pay interest on their mistake? Second, why would I be required to pay on a debt that I am appealing and yet been validated? It amazes me that the government can pretty much do whatever it wants and there is nothing that I can do about it.

My family was about to buy a house and now there is no way we will be able to get a loan, or at least not near as good of a loan as we would have now that I have this hit on my credit report. The sad thing is I can't even get in touch with DFAS because whenever I call the number of the debt management office I get a recording saying due to a high number of calls they cannot accept my call, no way to leave a message or anything. I have tried several times a day every day for the last two weeks to get in touch with them so I can talk to a supervisor (not that it will do any good). They must be so busy screwing so many other people over that their phones are tied up!

Is there really nothing I can do? Obviously I can't sue DFAS as they are a government facility. Don't citizens have any rights against the government when it makes mistakes?
 
Well I have been totally screwed by DFAS. A year after I retired they claim they overpaid me by $7500 on my final pay. I assumed this was my final SRB bonus so no alams went up and I did not verify this amount when I received it. As soon as they sent me notification of the overpayment and that I now owe them $7500 PLUS interest, I sent them a letter of disagreement. They then told me I could request a waiver which I very promptly did. I received a letter back from them stating that my waiver has been received and is being sent to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals (DOHA) for review and a decision. In the meantime, I received a letter from DFAS stating that my account is now past due. I sent a letter asking how it was past due if I am challenging the debt and it is currently being reviewed by a board. I heard nothing back and assumed they realized their mistake. A few months later and I never received my expected tax return in Feb and when I called the IRS, they told me a government agency took it. Several days later, I received a letter from the treasury department saying they are the federal collection agency collecting the debt from DFAS. I immediately called the collection agency and told them that my alleged debt is being contested and currently awaiting a decision from the review board. They asked me to send them all information about this in which I did including the letters from DFAS acknowledging my request for waiver (non of which tells me to pay the debt during the appeal). I was able to get in touch with DFAS and they told me I was responsible to pay this debt during the review process. Well how was I supposed to know that? I would have been nice if they told me that from the start! Nothing from them on any of their letters stated this. Why would I think I was responsible for paying a debt that I didn't agree with and is currently being reviewed to determine if I do indeed even owe it? In the meantime DFAS has put a negative mark on my credit reports for being late on the debt. This is totally ridiculous that someone in DFAS made a mistake and now I am paying for it dearly. First of all why should I have to pay interest on their mistake? Second, why would I be required to pay on a debt that I am appealing and yet been validated? It amazes me that the government can pretty much do whatever it wants and there is nothing that I can do about it.

My family was about to buy a house and now there is no way we will be able to get a loan, or at least not near as good of a loan as we would have now that I have this hit on my credit report. The sad thing is I can't even get in touch with DFAS because whenever I call the number of the debt management office I get a recording saying due to a high number of calls they cannot accept my call, no way to leave a message or anything. I have tried several times a day every day for the last two weeks to get in touch with them so I can talk to a supervisor (not that it will do any good). They must be so busy screwing so many other people over that their phones are tied up!

Is there really nothing I can do? Obviously I can't sue DFAS as they are a government facility. Don't citizens have any rights against the government when it makes mistakes?

I don't know much besides my own DFAS inquires but unless your disability happened in a war zone, your SRB in-full entitlement won't be fulfilled.
 
I don't know much besides my own DFAS inquires but unless your disability happened in a war zone, your SRB in-full entitlement won't be fulfilled.
I do get that and I'm not really expecting them to give me my last SRB payment (although in the big scheme of things, the AF did break my contract by medically retireing me and therefore should have to honor the contract, let's face it if I broke the contract I would have had to pay money back right?). However, the overpayment amount of my final pay was $7500 which is EXACTLY what my annual SRB bonus payments were and I therefore thought that I was paid my final SRB bonus payment. Because it was the right amount and at the time I was told by a few people that they THOUGHT I would receive by final bonus payment, I didn't inquire with DFAS about the amount. I did in fact put that money into an account for 6 months just in case. Well, about 3 months later (9 months since the payment was made, and of course after I spent the money) I was told by DFAS that they overpaid me. OK, I get that they overpaid me and I have to pay it back but why do I have to pay interest (essentially paying for their mistake)?? Also, I followed every one of their procedures to request a waiver and not a single one of their letters told me to start paying on this debt during the waiver process until it was too late. So it seems that once again due to their mistake (not TELLING ME that I had to make payments) I am paying a price (negative credit rating and late fees tacked on). It just seems that DFAS has done a lot of things WRONG or at the very least, MISLEADING!

And how in the world do they make a $7,500 mistake on my pay? More than TWICE what I should have been paid if I was not supposed to receive my final SRB payment. It is almost like a SCAM for the government to make money. Overpay someone by a lot and wait almost a year to tell them, that way there is no way they can pay it all back at once and we can collect interest!
 
might be a dead post, but you never know, so if you are being medically retired and are due a few more SRB payments you ARE entitled to the rest of the payments if the disability happened while downrange?
 
Page 71, Table 2-1 shows the details.
http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/fmr/current/07a/Volume_07a.pdf

"if such separation or retirement is for a disability incurred in the line of duty in a combat zone designated by the President or the Secretary of Defense or in a combat-related operation designated by the Secretary of Defense, and/or involves a combat-related disability as defined in 10 U.S.C. 1413a(e)"

"any unpaid portion of the bonus, special pay or student loan repayment under Title 10 or Title 37 United States Codes (U.S.C.) will be paid to the member upon separation"
 
Well according to my final les it states i should be recieving my srb payment on this upcoming second. Also from what I heard havent seen regulations on it but you signed for re enlistment for a certain amount of money . the military pays it out in installments . medically retire is involuntary separation as well I am told . SO I believe you will get it .
 
in regards to the Secretary of the Navy . I got a naval message stating my disability was combat related . So i guess thats when the decision was made.
 
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