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Congressman Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (R-Ga.) introduced legislation today to protect American veterans from military service deposit errors made by federal agencies. The Correcting Miscalculations in Veterans' Pensions Act authorizes federal agencies that make a mistake in calculating military service deposits and pensions to pay the incorrectly accrued interest on behalf of veteran employees.

"I introduced this legislation because I have heard from veterans faced with this unacceptable problem," said Carter. "After serving our nation, veterans are moving on to work for federal agencies and these agencies are miscalculating their pensions, accruing thousands of dollars in interest without the veteran ever even knowing about it. Our current system requires these veterans to repay sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in interest due to no fault of their own. My legislation says federal agencies, not our brave veterans, should pay the interest payments when the federal government is responsible for the miscalculation. This is not how our veterans should be treated when they return home and it should not be allowed to continue."

Background:

Currently, American veterans working at a federal agency are required to pay a military service deposit in order to receive their military service pension while working for the federal agency. Due to a misclassification in the type of the employee’s status, the federal agency will therefore charge different interest rates on those military service deposits, often leading to miscalculations. 

Once the federal agency becomes aware of the miscalculation, they will contact the veteran/employee and notify them of the need to pay back the balance with accrued interest. In some scenarios, that interest can be tens of thousands of dollars that the veteran would be required to pay. 

Currently, there is no recourse for veterans to mediate that payment and there is no authority for the federal agency to wipe away the incorrectly accrued interest.

Carter's legislation, the Correcting Miscalculations in Veterans' Pensions Act, authorizes agencies that make a mistake in calculating military service deposits and pensions to pay the incorrectly accrued interest on behalf of the veterans.