If you read the Veterans Law Blog regularly, you know that I sound like a broken record when it comes to C-Files.
I’ve looked at HUNDREDS – if not THOUSANDS – of VA C Files, and I to believe that the C-File is the single most important document in your VA Claim.
Everyone in the VA Claims process – at least everyone that has the power to affect the outcome of your claim – looks at it.
Even as the VA digitizes some of its VBA claim files, the BVA still requires the VA to send the paper copy up from the Regional Office before they will decide your claim (or so I’m told by 2 insiders at the BVA).
The Comp and Pen Examiner is going to look at your C-File when rendering an opinion as to whether or not your injury is service connected, and what impairment rating you are entitled to.
When you get to the Veterans Court, the first thing that the VA’s attorney has to do is file the C-File with the Court (of course, they call it the RBA, or “Record Before the Agency”).
With all these People Looking at your C-File, Shouldn’t You KNOW What is In It?
There are several ways to get your C-File – almost all of them require that you grow old waiting.
Last year, while teaching at a legal conference, I showed a few dozen Veterans Attorneys how to get their C-Files from the VA.
I now teach this same method to Veterans – I show them the method that my Law Firm uses to get their C-File from the VA in my Video Training Course: “Take Back the Power: How to Get Your VA C-File”
This method works! Here’s the story of a Veteran who got his C-File in just 10 days!
Here’s a Veteran who used this eBook to make HIS VA C File Request.
So this Veteran requested his C-File on March 4, 2014. He receive it on May 14, 2014. That’s 53 business days.
The law requires that the VA Provide the Veteran their C-Files in under 20 Business Days. The VA’s internal policy – in the Comp and Pen Section – is to do it in 10 business days.
But here’s the thing: the method in this eBook helped a Veteran get his C-File…using his words…”after multiple attempts failed over the years.”
Here’s a warning from another Veteran who made a VA C File Request.
So here’s what happened: this Veteran requested his VA C-File, and when he got it in the mail from the VA Regional Office in Denver, it had medical and claims records from MULTIPLE other Veterans.
Unbelievable – or at least it should be!!!
You know those documents that you are missing in your C-File?
They may not have been lost in the St. Louis Fire – they may have been put in another Veteran’s file!?!
I can’t tell you how many times this happens!
So much so that I am working with a couple of other Veterans Advocates to put together a list of recent incidents, so that we can raise this up the flag-pole at the OIGs office and before various Congressionals.
What About the Documents You DON’T KNOW are Missing From Your C-File?
This is one of the biggest reasons I tell Veterans to Get their C-File NOW: it may be that your claim is getting denied because the evidence you sent in was put in some other Veteran’s C-File.
I’ve seen that happen more than once – you could be sitting in the backlog because of something goofy like this.
Do Yourself a Favor – Get Your C-File NOW!
And why stop there? Once you get it from the VA, I will teach you the other steps of my 8 Steps to Improve Your VA Claim.
I have found another veteran’s records in my own. If this can provide you any assistance let me know.
Take the records to your congressional office and ask them to help find the Veteran that owns the records that are not yours. Include a written cover letter explaining exactly how these records came to be in your possession, precise dates, who sent them, etc.
You might also consider sending the packet to the VA Office of the Inspector General in Washington.
We have a more detailed post coming on this topic as it is happening so much.
–CA