Ohio Veterans Are Paying ‘Claim Sharks’ Thousands for VA Benefits They Could Get for Free

Unaccredited companies are reportedly charging Ohio veterans thousands of dollars to file VA disability claims for assistance veterans could receive for free.

“Claims sharks” charge veterans to prepare and file disability claims, sometimes for far more than the resulting benefits are worth, while promising results. That is even though federal law requires paid representatives to be accredited and generally bars charging veterans for help with an initial claim.

Two competing bills in the Ohio Legislature that would rein in those companies have stalled, according to reporting by Signal Ohio and state legislative records.

Larry Moore, director of the Summit County Veterans Service Commission, told Signal Akron that many claims sharks are operating around Akron, where his commission helps veterans at no cost.

The fees can climb quickly, too. Under the model described in the aforementioned legislation, an unaccredited company can charge up to five times a veteran’s monthly benefit increase.

Signal Akron notes that a veteran with a 10% disability rating receiving $180.42 a month could be charged $902.10. Larger rating increases would produce much larger fees.

Some companies tie their fees to increases that a veteran might receive later, which can still push the total higher.

Two Bills With Different Approaches

Ohio lawmakers have proposed two separate fixes.

House Bill 708 would regulate the paid services rather than ban them. It would require written contracts and disclosures, limit what companies can charge to obtain military records, bar tactics such as using call centers to harvest veterans’ information, and prohibit guaranteeing outcomes—while still allowing unaccredited firms to charge fees tied to a successful increase in benefits.

House Bill 961, called the Veterans Empowerment Through Ethical Representative and Navigation, or V.E.T.E.R.A.N., Benefits Protection Act, would go further.

It would require anyone charging for benefits assistance to be accredited by the VA, as federal law already contemplates, and would make violations an unfair or deceptive act under Ohio’s consumer protection law, adding penalties that do not currently exist.

Neither bill has moved. House Bill 708 has had no listed action since it was referred to committee in February, while House Bill 961 has been idle since its referral in June.

State Reps. Sean Brennan and Daniel Troy, both Democrats who introduced House Bill 961, are also listed among the co-sponsors of House Bill 708—the measure that would permit the fees, according to state legislative records.

This leads to an unresolved question about how far the state should go.

Not Every Fee Is a Scam

Not everyone who charges a veteran a fee is a claim shark, of course.

Victoria Collier, an accredited VA attorney and a co-owner of the firm Patriot Angels, told Signal that legitimate services get “lumped into” the claim shark category.

Her firm is considered unaccredited only because federal law restricts accreditation to nonprofit, government and tribal groups. Collier said it does not charge to file benefits claims.

Credit: Paula  R. Lively, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

She supports efforts to stop fraud, she said, but worries that House Bill 708 is “overarching” and would keep veterans and their families from choosing whom to hire after being given proper disclosures.

Rep. Ty Mathews, an Iraq War veteran and the only Republican co-sponsor of House Bill 961, said he wants to “strike a balance” between protecting veterans and preserving their ability to choose.

How Veterans Can Avoid Fees

Ohio veterans can get help to file claims at no cost through any of the state’s 88 county Veterans Service Commissions.

Before hiring anyone, veterans can ask whether the person is accredited by the VA and check the VA Office of General Counsel’s accreditation database.

Veterans can also contact the Ohio Department of Veterans Services for guidance.

Both bills remain in committee with no scheduled action. County veterans’ commissions across the state have voiced opposition to charging veterans for services they can already receive for free.