VA Loan Updates

On the giant state university campus in this military town, veterans have long been marbled into the student body. For many, anonymity is part of the appeal.

But as service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan, some at San Diego State are raising their heads and making themselves more visible. They’ve started a veterans’ organization that is one of the most active in the country. The group, which lines up support services for veteran students, lobbies for benefits and hosts social events, is fielding calls from other campuses interested in copying the idea.

Students like Nathaniel Donnelly, a former Marine who served in Iraq, insist they don’t flaunt their military service but are happy to talk about it in social settings or classrooms. Many transform their leadership training from the military to campus organizations. Gary Hirsch, a former Marine who graduated last spring with a top academic award, was involved in no fewer than nine different extracurricular groups.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

WASHINGTON — The government is taking action to enable more low-cost financing to be available for military veterans buying homes in pricier areas of the country.

The Government National Mortgage Association, known as Ginnie Mae, is eliminating the $417,000 cap on mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs that are bundled together as securities and backed in turn by Ginnie Mae.

The change takes effect Sept. 1, Ginnie Mae Executive Vice President Michael Frenz said in a memorandum Monday to participants in the agency’s program. That means Ginnie Mae will accept as collateral mortgage loans exceeding $417,000 that are guaranteed by Veterans Affairs. Those VA-backed loans represent about a third of the securities issued by Ginnie Mae, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Most veterans know they can use their GI Bill to pay for the costs of their college education; however, many veterans are not aware that they can use their GI Bill benefits in on-thejob training and apprenticeship programs with most businesses.

During job training, a newly hired veteran employee, if eligible, can receive up to $15,480 tax-free supplemental income from his GI Bill during a two-year, experience-based training program. National Guardsmen and reservists may also be eligible if they are currently under a six-year contract or have been called to active duty for at least 90 consecutive days since September 22, 2001.

To use GI Bill benefits while enrolled in an on-the-jobtraining (OJT) apprenticeship program (APP), a veteran must work 30 hours or more, full time employment, during the workweek and the employer must agree to establish the program.

For additional information contact Jung at 404-656-2306 or e-mail him at saaga@mindspring. com and SDVS website at www.sdvs.georgia.gov.

Found here.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Luis Duran of Copiague has endured the rigors of war. As a Marine in Iraq, he received an arm injury from shrapnel when a suicide car bomber attacked his convoy patrolling in Fallujah on April 30, 2004.

The force of the explosion, Duran recalled, “sent me flying a couple of feet … We came under coordinated attack by insurgents.”

Martin Kramer, 80, a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Pacific during World War II, wanted to help fellow Marines returning from service in Afghanistan and Iraq with their college expenses.

So Kramer, a former sergeant, and his wife, Margot, established the Semper Fi Scholarship at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, where Duran, a Marine from 2002 to 2006 and a former corporal, will receive the annual $6,000 scholarship.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Ashton Pearson, a 24-year-old Army veteran, figures to make an extra $7,900 while training to be a police officer for the Auburn Police Department, thanks to his G.I. Bill benefits.

Like many military veterans, he wasn’t even aware the benefits included on-the-job training.

Some area law enforcement agencies have caught onto the benefit of the G.I. Bill in their recruiting efforts, and that’s helping fill the ranks of local agencies.

The program is called the Apprenticeship/On the Job training program, one of the Montgomery G.I. Bill benefits. It pays out monthly cash payments for approved training programs in lieu of formal schooling.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

National Guard medic Patrick Campbell was a year into law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when he volunteered for a deployment to Iraq. Upon his return, the California native found his student loans in default.

“I was getting two letters a day from them and phone calls every morning from people telling me I was being put in collections agencies because you haven’t been paying back your loans,” he said.

Students aren’t usually required to repay their loans until after graduation. But because of his deployment, Campbell had been out of school for over a year, triggering the repayment obligation.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Says help for veterans was part of session 

Speaking to a small group of Yuma-area veterans Thursday evening, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said that lots of legislation dealing with veteran-related issues had been passed in Congress during the last session.

“There was a flurry of activity,” Grijalva said. “I believe support for our troops should be a mandate, not a slogan. The words have to mean something.”

Grijalva, whose district includes Yuma County, went on to say some of that legislation dealt with health care services and benefits for veterans.

Meeting at American Legion Post 19 by invitation, Grijalva said that in addition to veterans from previous wars, the country now must deal with making sure veterans who are returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting the medical care they need.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Cloy Richards was done a wrong by the Marines. His condition is a medical one and needs to be corrected. If he had been medically retired instead of discharged, he wouldn’t have lost out on a host of benefits and future income potential. I have been dealing with Veterans Affairs for fourteen years and was medically retired from the Air Force in 1993; Richards should have been rated as “individually unemployable” by the VA and paid at the 100 percent level, or about $2,400 per month.

On a side note, the St. Louis VA Regional Office has a history of cheating veterans out of what they are due. I am one of those vets and I’m currently fighting with them over my benefits. Also, Congress is still refusing to pay disabled retirees their retirement. We lose one dollar for every dollar we receive from the VA.

I’m including the following Web sites so those who need help can get it: The Veteran’s Benefits Network (http://p203.ezboard.com/bvetbenefits) and the PEB Forum (www.pebforum.com), which is for those who are currently on active duty and are facing medical discharge, or those, like Cloy, who are injured and should have received a medical retirement instead of a regular discharge.

Brian Lind, St. Louis

Found here.

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

Given a choice Monday between focusing on veterans’ health care or what to do next in the Iraq war, Sen. Hillary Clinton chose the former.

In other words, the current Democratic front-runner in the polls played it safe as the first of four major presidential hopefuls to address the 108th annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City.

Like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who followed her, the senator from New York made her way to the issue of the Iraq war so late in her speech that some wondered whether she would ever get there.

McCain offered a soliloquy on the subject of war in general and did not reach the current conflict until two-thirds of the way into his 22-minute speech.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites

ng restriction could make more local veterans eligible for low-interest home loans

BARSTOW — A state loan program that helps older veterans afford homes will be expanded if a proposed law is enacted. The proposal would make hundreds of recent veterans eligible for low-interest mortgages.

The Qualified Veterans Mortgage Bonds program now allocates $340 million annually for home loans but offers loans only to those whose military service began before 1977. Due to lack of demand, the program only lent out $205 million in the 2006-2007 fiscal year. A bill under consideration by the US Congress, “The Home Ownership for Veteran’s Act,” would allow California to lift the 1977 restriction, which could stir interest in the program.

“A lot of the older veterans already own homes,” said Jerry Jones, chief of legislative affairs of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, which administers the program. “Due to restrictions, we’re running out of people who were eligible. This change would open up the pool to younger vets.”

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Hide Sites