General Advice when looking for help

There are generally 5 groups out there seeking veteran clients:

1. Shark Companies: They make you pay for Initial Claims through a coaching course, sometimes charging up to 50% of your backpay or even 5k all upfront. DON'T USE THESE COMPANIES. No one is supposed to charge you for initial claims. Veteran Claims Insider is the biggest one of these sharks. Initial Claims are not that hard to file. Just find a decent VSO to help you if you need help with initial claims (P.S. read #2 about VSO's). I do initial claims for free as an added bonus for my clients. I have a high win rate with these as well. I put 100% effort in all of my work, and unlike alot of offices, do alot more for my veterans than just what I get paid for. I do that because I want my veterans to get the highest rating. While my service does do initial claims for free for veterans, I only take veterans that also have Supplemental Claims, Increase Claims, and Appeals in addition to initial claims.

2. Accredited VSO's (Veteran Service Organizations): Some examples include the DAV (all veterans), American Legion (all veterans), and VFW (only for veterans of foreign campaigns). Use these guys for all initial claims or do the initial claims yourself. They are free and can help you if you are lost with how to file an initial claim. They serve a lot of veterans free of charge so that is awesome. However, their success rates (win rates) are only about 40%. The reason for this is, they don't really dig into the weeds with you and get everything you need to file to make sure you win. Just be sure to be thorough yourself and gather all your medical records before you file. Yes the VSO can have the VA pull your VA records, but I find, of you pull all applicable records yourself and itemize all the evidence and submit that with the VSO claim, the claim success rate goes up about 33%. So, in short, work with the VSO to gather and itemize your evidence. Just don't file and hope for the best. To be clear on what VSOs can and cannot do for veterans, most these organizations like the DAV, American Legion, and VFW, serve veterans in bulk. They are basically cookie cutter filers that file your forms for you for free. If you basic claims that do not need to be proven, you have no worries. If your claims need to be proven, do a lot of itemizing and research yourself to add evidence to the claim before it is filed, don't count on them doing that. Also, VSO's are not great at Supplemental Claims, Increase Claims, or Appeals.

3. Accredited VA Representatives (Accredited Claims Agents/Reps): There are about 400 nationwide that can represent you remotely no matter your State. They are directly accredited by the VA/Office of General Council (OGC). You can find them at: va.gov/ogc/apps/accreditation/

Choose "CLAIMS AGENT"
Select your STATE from the drop-down.
(Of note, you can also find VSOs and Lawyers this way as well).

Most Accredited VA Representatives are highly skilled and take a difficult proctored exam and a background check. Most are as good or better than lawyers. They can represent you nationally as well, something most lawyers cannot do. Many States only have a few Accredited VA Representatives, so look at other States as well, because, they easily can represent you remotely. I have spoken to a lot of these Reps in different States, and some might not mesh with you, so choose another.

USE an ACCREDITED VA REP if you have LOST a claim, LOST a supplemental claim, or want to FILE FOR an INCREASE, or for any APPEALS. These guys can also do new claims for you as well when they are filing Supp Claims, Increase Claims, or Appeals for you. They just have to do the initial claims for free in addition to the other work. Some will not do this, but I do. These guys success rates are much higher than VSO's. Ask them their win rates. If they are good, they are worth every penny you spend. A lot of them charge a contingent fee of 33.3% of backpay won so no out-of-pocket expenses (usually $1200-$4000), which is well worth it if they win you hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime benefits and in come cases, well over a million.

In addition, Accredited VA Reps usually can template Nexus Letters for you as well, eliminating the need for paying extra for that. They do all the work, then your provider can just review and sign most of the time. They tend to win a lot of cases the VSO's lose.

4. Accredited Lawyers: Unlike the Accredited VA Representatives, Lawyers can only represent you in their particular state. Their win rates are about what Accredited VA Representatives win at 60%-90%. Again, ask them their win rate. They tend to be more expensive than the Accredited VA Representatives. For basic cases, their fees are similar to Accredited VA Reps ($2000-5000k). Some are very good. For complex cases, they charge 5k-9k or up to 50% of the backpay you win. Despite what many VSOs and folks on Facebook tell you, lawyers can legally charge greater than the Non-Direct Fee allowed of 33.3% by the VA/OCG if they justify it to the VA. Many do! This is especially true with complex cases that take alot of work hours. Many unknowledgeable VSO's and even uninformed lawyers on facebook rage against these fees and say they aren't legal. They just don't know what they are talking about legally (yes even lawyers I've had to correct).

To be frank, some veterans wouldn't have been able to win without a good lawyer in some cases, so paying 7k for a million dollars in lifetime benefits isn't bad. However, I still recommend Accredited VA Reps over lawyers for most cases. The only time I would use a lawyer would be for a very complex cases such as TERA Appeals case where proving specific base exposures not on the presumption list is a requirement. Even with these cases, some Accredited VA Representatives are better than most lawyers with TERA/base exposure appeals (I put myself in that bucket). So, compare the win rate, service quality, and cost of an Accredited VA Rep with any particular Lawyer before choosing who will represent you. I am not an Attorney (I'm an Accredited VA Rep) but I work hard for my TERA/Toxic Exposure clients. I have been told by an attorney, my case work is alot better than most attorneys. So, you really do need to interview the Accredited VA Rep or Lawyer to determine if they know their stuff. If they are overly formal with you and won't answer your questions, don't hire them. Guys that win at high rates don't have to hide behind a mask of formality.

5. The Nexus Letter companies: I find it a little funny the VSO's (DAV, VFW, and American Legion) like to call ALL of these guys sharks as well. Some may be, but for your clarity, not all of them are. Some provide straight forward services. What these guys do is provide you with a basic medical opinion letter (a Nexus) in support of a claim to help establish service connection. You still have to do all the work though and file the claim yourself. Some of these companies may be predatory, some may not. Some veterans that are good at administrative work use them for a Nexus Letter then file the initial claim or appeal themself. The cost can be anywhere from $500 to $1500 per Nexus letter, which could mean multiples adding up quickly if you have multiple issues. Again, they don't handle any of your case work, that's all on you. It's easy to mess up a case even with their Nexus letters which aren't always tailored like you need them. Further, there is no help with overall strategy or filing of the claims as they are not advising you on initial claims, they legally can't, but they don't do that much anyways. So, again, it's all on you.

Getting a Nexus does not mean you'll win. All of your paperwork still needs to be organized and your medical must align with the Nexus. Usually, veterans seeking a Nexus Letter from these companies should instead be seeking help from an Accredited VA Rep. This is because just the Nexus doesn't put it all together. If an Accredited VA Rep knows their stuff, like I said before, they will template the Nexus Letters anyways and in addition, prepare all your supporting documents for your primary care provider. This is a more thorough way to go than with a Nexus company. Ask the VA Rep how they handle Nexus letters. If they can't template whatever you need as part of their service (if they send you to a Nexus Company), don't use them. They likely aren not top tier VA Reps, or simply lack the intellectual prowess to template medical opinion letters. Top-tier VA Reps are intelligent enough to produce pretty much anything you need legally to help you raise your rating.

Ok, with all that said, there is definitely a time and place to pay for services: Basically, when you have lost a claim after having filed yourself or with a VSO, or want to file for an increase, that's when more dedicated support comes into play! That's when you call me as an Accredited VA Rep! Finding a TOP-TIER Accredited VA Rep is your best bet to win! I can service nationwide remotely.

Billy R Jackson

U.S. Dept of Veteran Affairs/OGC Accredited VA Representative

Accreditation Number: 57667; POA Code K1E

email: AppealsOffice@VeteranAppealsCenter.com

phone: (910) 548-4118