Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Angus King (I-ME), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Peter Welch (D-VT) introduced the VA Claim Sharks Effective Warnings Act, legislation to require the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to more effectively warn veterans about unaccredited VA claims representatives, or “claim sharks.”
“The VA has a duty to prevent veterans from being preyed upon as they try to navigate complexities of the benefits system,” said Whitehouse. “My legislation would help protect veterans from claim shark schemes by requiring the VA to warn veterans against working with unaccredited agents or sharing their private credentials with anyone.”
“Veterans in Maine and across the country rely every day on accredited veteran claims representatives for assistance with filing disability claims,” said King, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “However, there are bad actors who proactively prey on veterans, offering assistance while illegally charging them high costs for services that Veterans Service Organizations perform for free. The VA Claim Sharks Effective Warnings Act would require the VA to more aggressively warn veterans about unaccredited agents who are scamming our men and women who served. This commonsense legislation is a simple way to help protect veterans from predatory companies and ensure they receive their earned benefits.”
“Filing for benefits through the VA can be a time-consuming and complex process that claim sharks take advantage of to scam veterans out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Shaheen. “The VA should be doing everything possible to protect veterans from these predatory practices. Our legislation would make sure the VA is taking simple, yet effective preventative measures to warn veterans about unaccredited agents.”
Claim sharks are unaccredited agents or companies that charge veterans fees, usually between $5,000 and $20,000, to help them file their initial VA benefits claims—a service that is supposed to be free to veterans. Unfortunately, because these actors operate outside the bounds of VA regulations, the VA has little authority to go after them. The VA is currently required to warn veterans about unaccredited claims representatives on its websites, but only after veterans log in to their VA benefits accounts. This approach limits the reach and efficacy of the notice requirement, increasing the risk that some veterans may not see the warning until after they have already begun working with unaccredited claims agents.
The VA Claim Sharks Effective Warnings Act would address this shortcoming by requiring the VA to post warnings on its public-facing websites, without requiring veterans to first create or log in to an account. The legislation would also require the VA to include a warning discouraging veterans from sharing their VA account or bank account log-in credentials with unaccredited agents, as many claim sharks deduct their “fees” from veterans’ benefits.
The legislation is endorsed by Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The full text of the bill is available here.
