CHAPTER 5. OVERPAYMENTS/ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
SECTION A. GENERAL
5A.01 PROCEDURES
This chapter covers procedures for maintaining accounts receivable records.
5A.02 ACCOUNTABILITY
a. Systems Overpayments. The Hines Benefits Delivery Center (BDC) is responsible for subsidiary records and accounting for the principal portion of the receivables generated by the Compensation, Pension and Education (CP&E) systems and for those receivables that are transferred to the BDC. Regional offices and Centralized Accounts Receivable System (CARS) are also responsible for processing such transactions to the Hines BDC as may be appropriate to establish or maintain the receivable when the transactions are not automatically generated by the CP&E systems. Interest, administrative costs of collection, court costs and marshal fees will be computed, assessed and accounted for by the station having responsibility for collection, Centralized Accounts Receivable Division (CARD) or a regional office. The Hines CP&E systems provide update information on magnetic tape to CARS. The updates are generated based on actions in the Hines BDC CP&E systems which update principal balances of accounts under CARD jurisdiction. Maintenance of the principal balance will be done in both systems, the Hines BDC being the controlling and accountable system.
b. Other Accounts Receivable. Accountability for principal, interest, administrative costs of collection, court costs and marshal fees for all accounts receivable not carried in the CP&E systems is assigned to the field station (regional office, medical center, etc.) having responsibility for collection.
5A.03 RESPONSIBILITY FOR COLLECTION
a. Regional offices are responsible for the collection of accounts receivable arising from overpayment of compensation, pension, or education benefits, or as a result of default on VA guaranteed or direct home loans, in the categories listed below:
(1) Receivables established prior to May 1, 1988, as a result of death of the person entitled or increased due to the death of a payee who was receiving C&P benefits at the time of death.
(2) VR&E revolving fund loan, deduction code 10.
(3) Attorney fees, deduction code 31.
(4) Education loan accounts as outlined in Chapter 9, St. Paul regional office only.
b. CARD is responsible for the collection of all other accounts receivable arising from overpayment of CP&E benefits or as a result of default on VA guaranteed or direct loans.
5A.04 RECEIVABLES AND DEDUCTIONS APPLICABLE TO THE C&P SYSTEM
Receivables and deductions applicable to the C&P system include deductions for insurance premiums (deduction code 01, 03 05), mortgage loan repayments (deduction codes 11N and 12N) and those listed below. Transactions applicable to other receivables and deductions will not be submitted to the C&P system.
Appropriation or Fund Receivable/Deduction Code Class Code
(Type)
36X0102 30 series All
36X0137 40 All
36X4114 10 All
36X4024 13, 22, 26 All
36X4025 14, 21, 25, 29 All
36X6020 70 S
36X6021 71 S
362649 60 All
36F3875 61, 63 C
36F3875 62 P
Insurance Overpayment 80 C
96, 97, 98, 99 K
5A.05 RECEIVABLES AND DEDUCTIONS APPLICABLE TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
Receivables and deductions applicable to the Education system are listed below. Transactions applicable to other receivables and deductions will not be submitted to the Education system.
Appropriation or Fund Receivable/Deduction Code Class Code
(Type)
CHAPTER 30 BENEFITS:
36F3875 58, 59 All
CHAPTER 31 BENEFITS:
36X0137 47, 48 All
CHAPTER 32 BENEFITS:
36X8133 51, 52 All
CHAPTER 34/35 BENEFITS:
36X0137 41, 42, 44, 45 All
CHAPTER 106 BENEFITS:
36X0137 55, 56, 57 All
Appropriation or Fund Receivable/Deduction Code Class Code
(Type)
REINSTATED ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM
FOR SURVIVORS (REPS):
36 0200 63 All
SUSPENSE ACCOUNT OTHER A/Rs:
36F3875 61, 63 C
36F3875 62 P
SECTION B. ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
5B.01 REGIONAL OFFICES
a. Memorandum Receivable Records. Regional offices will prepare VA Form 4-1103A, Accounts Receivable Record (With Charges), to maintain their receivable accounts, except where the debt is a home loan vendee default, in which case VA Form 4-1846, Veterans Liability Account, will be used.
b. Quarterly Listings. The Hines BDC will submit detailed listings (COIN/EDU 230 and COIN/CP 118) on a quarterly basis to the Finance activities, reflecting the status of all current receivable balances and those uncollectible receivable balances on which there has been activity during the quarter (including interstation transfer). The listings will be used for review and reference purposes, including reconciliation with station records (i.e., VA Form 4-1103A). A checkmark will be shown following the claim number on the listings indicating the existence of a memorandum receivable record, when required. (NOTE: No memorandum receivable record is required for those receivables with recurring deductions.) The listing will contain the following information:
(1) File number (last two digits first)
(2) Payee number
(3) Station number
(4) Name
(5) Entitlement code (if applicable)
(6) Receivable/deduction code (type)
(7) Class code
(8) Reference number (if appropriate)
(9) Amount
(10) Recurring deduction amount
(11) Master record type
(12) Subtotal of number and amount of receivables by type
(13) Total number and amount of receivables by station
NOTE: A memorandum receivable record is required for those receivables that are carried in an active, type "A", master record, but the new award segment on the Target screen M11 is zero and overpayment reason code is "18". These are hospitalized veterans with no dependents that have exceeded the maximum asset limitation. In these cases the fiduciary, guardian, etc. should be contacted and requested to repay the overpayment.
c. Responding to Debtors' Inquiries
(1) CAROLS. The C&P batch system updates CARS every processing cycle and reconciles with CARS at end-of-month processing. As a result, the Centralized Accounts Receivable On Line System (CAROLS) has current principal balance and payment information available to selected employees in regional offices. A Users' Guide to CAROLS was released to all field stations in December 1989.
(2) Regional Offices. Any inquiry or evidence that could affect CARD's collection process should be referred to CARD immediately. Debtors who call a regional office to request waiver of collection should be told to send a written request with a VA Form 4-5655, Financial Status Report. Similarly, debtors calling to report bankruptcy should be asked to send a copy of the bankruptcy documentation directly to CARD. The mailing address for CARD is:
Centralized Accounts Receivable Division
VA Regional Office and Insurance Center
P.O. Box 11930
St. Paul, Minnesota 55111
Inquiries received by CARD relating to benefit eligibility or non-receipt of checks will be referred to the regional office of jurisdiction. However, CARD will explain to debtors any matter concerning their debt collection process.
d. Receipts and Cash Collections. All payments received at regional offices for compensation, pension and loan guaranty, as well as payments and offsets for chapter 31 debts, will be applied locally via Target. Regional offices may continue to enter cash transactions (08 and 08A), application of offset transactions (08B) and adjustment transactions (06E). Regional offices are restricted from entering waiver or partial waiver transactions (07C).
Regional offices must continue to transmit payments for Chapter 34 and Chapter 35 educational debts to CARD, in accordance with instructions set forth in MP-4, part I, paragraph 2B.06b(2). Cash collections will be deposited locally in suspense account 36F3875 and transferred immediately to CARS via VA Form 4-4564, Transfer of Disbursing Authority, for education debts. Payroll deductions will be transferred in the same manner. If separate payments are received on different dates for the same debtor and are transferred on the same VA Form 4-4564, each payment must be shown separately with its applicable receipt date. Show the pay date for payroll deductions (See fig. 5B.02.)
e. Fiscal Transactions for Nonveteran Accounts Receivable. Accounts Receivable Under 36X0102. Receivables not chargeable to a veteran, and therefore without a file number, i.e., overpayment of burial allowance or overpayment of accrued benefits where payee is not a veteran, will be introduced into the computer by use of Target FIST-F25 screen/FAUT-F95 screen, transaction code 04E. In order to accomplish this, an identification number must be assigned which will be used in place of a file number. The identification number will be assigned by the local office as follows:
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)
Identification Station Serially Terminal Payee Number
Number Assigned Digit
Number
9 10 001 99 30
Items (a), (d) and (e) of this identification number are the same for all accounts. Item (b) will reflect the last two digits of the station number of the station having jurisdiction over the claims folder. Item (c) is a number serially assigned by the station beginning with 001. Each station will establish its own control to insure continuity of numbers within the station. The file number of the case from which this overpayment originated will be entered in the Reference Number of Target Fist-F25 screen. Significant digits will be preceded by zeros to fill the nine spaces of the reference number.
f. Establishment of Receivables on Terminated Accounts--CP&E Systems. At the time terminations are processed under the CP&E systems, any receivables created by the transaction in an amount of less than $5, after application of any available offset deductions, will not be established in the accounts or records.
g. VA Debts of VA Employees
(1) Policy guidelines for collection of benefit overpayments to VA employees are contained in MP-4, part VIII.
(2) Guidelines for Administrative Collection.
(a) Any VA Form 4-1100, Agreement to Pay Indebtedness, or voluntary schedule of salary offsets, specifying the amount and periodic rate of repayment, and manner of repayment, should be forwarded to the Director (00/244), VA Regional Office and Insurance Center, St. Paul, Minnesota 55111, marking the envelope DO NOT OPEN IN MAIL ROOM, when the receivable is under CARD jurisdiction.
(b) Any requests for withholding from an employee's monthly compensation or pension payment to apply against a benefit overpayment will be in writing. The request will specify the amount to be withheld each month and the effective date. The request will be similarly forwarded to the Director, (00/244), VA Regional Office and Insurance Center, St. Paul, Minnesota 55111, marking the envelope DO NOT OPEN IN MAIL ROOM, when the receivable is under CARD jurisdiction.
(c) Any remittance received from the employee, at the regional offices for compensation, pension and loan guaranty, as well as payments and offsets for chapter 31 debts, will be applied locally via Target. Regional offices must continue to transmit any remittance for Chapter 34 and Chapter 35 educational debts to CARD.
(d) Any request for payroll deduction will be in writing. Unless contradicted, the request will be honored. Following receipt of the payroll deduction from Austin DPC, VA Form 4-4564 will be prepared to transfer the amount to the St. Paul VA Regional Office and Insurance Center. The transfer document will be annotated with complete identifying data, including VA file number. Multiple accounts may be included on the same VA Form 4-4564.
(3) Post Transfer Establishments. There are cases where a veteran's claims folder and loan guaranty folder are located at different regional offices. If the veteran defaults on the home loan, the veteran's liability account will be established by the station maintaining the loan guaranty folder.
h. Control of Chapter 34 Overpayments for Chapter 31 Electees.
(1) When a Chapter 34 beneficiary makes a retroactive election of Chapter 31 benefits, the result is a Chapter 34 account receivable. This account receivable should always be recouped from the new Chapter 31 award. Due to this immediate offset ability, it is usually desirable not to generate a collection letter out of the education system. The Adjudication award document which terminates the Chapter 34 benefit will be appropriately complete to suppress the termination/collection award letter.
(2) Due to the nature of the Chapter 31 system, it will usually be the case that the Chapter 34 account receivable will not be liquidated in time to prevent the second and third collection letters from being generated. It will therefore be necessary for Finance activities to notify CARD when the above condition occurs, and CARD will diary collection correspondence.
(3) When a Chapter 34/Chapter 31 award package is processed, Finance activities will prepare an Optional Form (OF) 41, Routing and Transmittal Slip. (See fig. 5B.01.) Optional Form 41 will be mailed to CARD at the address shown in paragraph 5B.02b.
(4) The diary period for this type of action will be 90 days. If the Chapter 34 account receivable has not been liquidated 90 days from the setting of the diary, CARD will notify the appropriate regional office to determine the cause of the excessive delay.
i. Requests for Waiver of Collection and Notices of Disagreement (NOD) to Waiver Decision
(1) Regional offices will proceed with waiver requests or NOD's received on station if they have sufficient information to process the request. CARD will be notified immediately and should be furnished copies of the requests as soon as possible. If financial information does not accompany the waiver request and a hearing is requested, stations will schedule the hearing and advise the debtor to furnish financial information at the hearing. If a hearing is not requested and financial information does not accompany the request, it should be forwarded to CARD for processing as soon as possible. Notification of requests for waiver and submissions of NOD's may be made by electronic mail. Documents related to waiver requests should be sent to CARD.
Any documents involving waiver requests and/or decisions may be transmitted by facsimile to CARD.
(2) If a request for waiver is received at the regional office for an account under CARD jurisdiction within the first 30 days of the original date of notification, the regional office shall process transaction code 18, entering all zeros, before processing the waiver request. This will prevent offset of benefit payments until a decision is rendered. In the event the debtor filed a request for waiver within the 30 day limit, but transaction 18 was not processed in time to stop withholding, the regional office may refund money already withheld with a transaction 06B.
(3) If the debtor did not file a request for waiver within 30 days and collection by offset had commenced, but full or partial waiver (in an amount greater than the remaining balance of the debt) is granted, CARD must perform an 06B transaction to bring the account back to current status, followed immediately by an 07C.
(4) Waiver decisions will be forwarded to CARD immediately after a determination is made. If a request for waiver is granted in full or in part, CARD will perform an 07C transaction. Waiver decisions will also be sent by facsimile, when possible.
(5) Request for reconsideration of final Committee On Waivers and Compromises decisions made prior to enactment of Public Law 101-237.
(a) When a regional office receives a request for reconsideration, they must notify CARD immediately so the diary code can be changed, if the debt still exists. Such a request, whether received directly at the regional office or from CARD, will be entered into the local automated system as if it were an initial waiver request.
(b) If a Committee determines that a waiver request can be reconsidered, they will review the case under the new standards set forth in Circular 20-90-5, dated February 12, 1990, and Training Guide 20-90-2, dated April 23, 1990, and render a decision.
(c) A decision to either grant or deny waiver upon reconsideration is to be recorded on VA Form 4-1837, Decision on Waiver of Indebtedness. In all cases the decision should be identified as a reconsideration case. This identification should be the following statement, in red ink, on the top of the VA Form 4-1837: "Public Law 101-237 RECONSIDERATION CASE".
(d) A determination that a request for reconsideration does not meet the standards set forth in the General Counsel opinion must be made by a Committee on Waivers and Compromises itself and not by the Chairperson of the Committee. Such a decision is the equivalent of a denial of waiver and must also be recorded on VA Form 4-1837. In addition, since it is a denial of waiver, the debtor must be advised of his/her appellate rights. Therefore, the following statement will be provided to the debtor on VA Form Letter 4-326, Denial of Request for Waiver of Recovery of Debt, when the request for reconsideration does not meet the standards set forth in the General Counsel opinion:
"We have received your request for reconsideration of our waiver decision under the new standards for waiver consideration brought about by Public Law 101-237. In accordance with Precedent Opinion 22-90 (July 17, 1990) of the General Counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs, we cannot reconsider our waiver decision because the entire amount of your indebtedness was repaid prior to December 18, 1989, the date of enactment of Public Law 101-237."
j. Compromise Offers. Regional offices must forward all compromise offers for accounts under CARD jurisdiction to CARD. Regional offices are not to make compromise decisions concerning debts under CARD jurisdiction.
k. Adjustments in Offset of Benefit Payments by Regional Offices.
(1) Establishment or Change in C-Type Future Withholding Segment.
Changes to programming relevant to the transfer of accounts from the Compensation and Pension File allow CARD and regional office to enter fiscal transaction 18 for processing against a C-type future withholding segment. Stations are now able to immediately process future deductions. Fiscal transaction 18 entered with an amount less than the recurring check amount (or all zeros) will adjust a withholding amount.
(2) Reduction in Offset Amounts. Under special circumstances, regional offices may review accounts under CARD jurisdiction to determine if reductions in offset amounts would be appropriate. These circumstances should be limited to those cases where extreme financial hardship appears imminent. If reductions would be appropriate, the regional office must advise CARD of their intended actions and forward copies of all financial documents used in support of their decisions.
NOTE: Coordination is most important in this circumstance since many debtors request reductions in their offset amounts from the regional office and CARD simultaneously.
5B.02 CENTRALIZED ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SYSTEM
a. General. This subsection establishes general policy for CARD.
CARD detailed operating procedures are developed locally at the VA Regional Office and Insurance Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
b. Correspondence
(1) CARD is responsible for all incoming and outgoing correspondence concerning accounts receivable maintained in CARS. Based on incoming transactions or correspondence, diary codes, and diary dates, the system will automatically generate letters to the debtor to request or acknowledge payments and to indicate the status of an account. CARS internal form letters and dictated letters are utilized in special cases when the computer-generated letters do not adequately cover the situation. The CARD correspondence address is:
Veterans Administration Regional Office and Insurance Center (244)
Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building
P.O Box 11930
St. Paul, Minnesota 55111
(2) Congressional correspondence will be answered within 5 workdays after receipt. Necessary research will be conducted to provide an accurate reply. If it is found that an adequate and accurate reply cannot be furnished within 5 workdays, a letter of acknowledgment will be sent to the congressional official informing him or her that a reply will be forthcoming and the expected date of the reply.
c. Financial Statements, Credit Reports and Field Examinations. The CARD will forward VA Form 4-5655, Financial Status Report, to the debtor with certain computer-generated, CPT and dictated letters. They will order credit reports on all debts prior to referral to a U.S. Attorney, and on any other debt where, in the judgment of the Chief, CARD, it is necessary to supplement or validate information of record. They may refer certain accounts to a regional office activity for field examination. (See MP-4, pt. VIII, par. 2A.03.)
d. Locator Procedures. Locator action will he taken whenever an address is not available or the available address is not current.
IRS (Internal Revenue Service). The input of an appropriate diary code will cause CARS to generate a magnetic tape record of debtors who are unlocated. The magnetic tapes will be shipped monthly in accordance with a schedule provided by the IRS. The IRS will process the tape against their records and furnish CARS, on magnetic tape, the latest address in the IRS file.
e. Processing Requests for Waiver
(1) When a request for waiver is received by CARS, the appropriate diary code will be entered. If a VA Form 4-5655, Financial Status Report, is included with the waiver request, it will be forwarded to the regional office along with a VA Form 4-1042a, Referral of Indebtedness to Committee on Waivers and Compromises (CARS, St. Paul), and any other pertinent information. If no VA Form 4-5655 is included with the waiver request, CARS will request the debtor to complete a VA Form 4-5655 and return it to them. If it is not received within 30 days, CARS will refer the case without it.
(2) When a request for waiver is received from CARS, the regional office will:
(a) Take immediate action to review the request for waiver and supporting data and schedule the case for consideration by the Committee on Waivers and Compromises (COWC). If additional information relative to circumstances surrounding the overpayment is required, it will be obtained by the station Finance activity from the records available at the regional office. If the debtor did not submit a VA Form 4-5655 report to CARS, the case will be considered by the COWC on the basis of available financial data. A control will be established to insure that COWC action is completed in time to permit advice of the COWC decision to CARS before expiration of the 12-day suspense period.
(b) When the COWC has considered the case and reached a decision to deny or partially waive the indebtedness, the debtor will be advised of the decision by the regional office. The COWC will write the decision in language which will permit clerical personnel to quote the decision in the letter of denial without editing or altering the content of the COWC decision in any way. The debtor will also be informed of his/her appellate rights and advised that consideration of the appeal will be expedited if the Notice of Disagreement is filed directly with the regional office within 60 days. A copy of the VA Form 4-1837, Decision on Waiver of Indebtedness, will be annotated, "Debtor Notified (date)" and forwarded to CARS at the same time the debtor is advised. CARS will automatically suspend action on the account for 60 days to permit time for filing a Notice of Disagreement.
(c) If a debtor files a Notice of Disagreement with the regional office, the Finance activity will immediately notify CARS and they will suspend the account for 6 months. If CARS receives no further information, followup will be made to the regional office at the end of a 6-month period.
(d) At the time an appeal is certified to the BVA (Board of Veterans Appeals) CARS will be advised and the account will be suspended until such time as the BVA has rendered a decision. The regional office will immediately advise CARS of the BVA decision so that the action may be pursued depending on the decision rendered.
(e) If the request for waiver is approved in full, the regional office will promptly forward the COWC decision to CARD. CARS will generate a letter advising the debtor of the approval of the waiver and the charge to entitlement.
(f) The COWC will advise the Adjudication Officer in writing of the partial or full waiver of education debts so that entitlement may be charged accordingly.
(3) Upon receipt of a copy of the COWC decision, CARD will:
(a) Prepare a transaction 07C to record the waiver of the debt in both the CARS and Hines BDC records if the request for waiver is approved or partially approved.
(b) Establish a new suspense date 60 days in the future to permit time for processing a Notice of Disagreement if the request for waiver is denied or partially approved. Upon termination of the 60 day period, if an intervening transaction has not lifted the suspense, collection action will be resumed.
(4) Request for reconsideration of final Committee On Waivers and Compromises decisions made prior to enactment of Public Law 101-237.
When a reconsideration request is received in CARD they will attach an Optional Form (OF) 41, Routing and Transmittal Slip to the request and mail it to the appropriate regional office for action. Optional Form 41 will simply indicate that this is a reconsideration case and identify whether any portion of the indebtedness was in existence on December l8, 1989. CARD will not make any decision regarding eligibility for reconsideration. If the debt exists in CARS, the account will be placed in an 033 diary code to identify it as a potential reconsideration case. (See fig. 5B.03.)
f. Suspensions and Terminations
(1) Suspension. Collection action may be suspended for any of the following reasons:
(a) Correspondence received that requires research.
(b) A debtor states his/her intention of returning to school.
(c) A debtor requests additional time because of financial hardship or illness. If a debtor requests additional time to repay a debt because of financial hardship or illness and it is justified, the account will be suspended for three to six months. A computer-generated letter will inform the debtor of the suspension. Under certain circumstances, collection action may be suspended for up to one year.
(d) A debtor requests additional time because of incarceration.
(e) When specifically requested by a regional office because their Committee on School Liability has determined that the school is also liable for the creation of the overpayment, CARD will initiate a suspension for this reason. The account will remain in suspense until the regional office advises CARD that collection action should be resumed.
(f) For each of the above cases, appropriate diary codes will be input and the debtor notified of the suspension action. Normally, an account will not be suspended for more than 1 year. When the diary comes up and action has not been completed, a VA Form 4-5244, CARS Master Record Printout, will be generated with the same code as was originally input. Appropriate follow-up action will then be taken.
(2) Terminations. Collection action on accounts can no longer be terminated. The CP&E system has been programmed to block such transactions. Collection actions must be pursued on all accounts unless they are either suspended or written off.
g. Deceased Debtors
(1) A formal notice of death will be received by CARS from Hines BDC. Form Letter 4-510, Letter Requesting that the Representative of the state Return Funds, or FL 4-511, Instructions to Survivors Regarding Treasury Department Checks, will be processed requesting return of any unendorsed checks or refund of a Direct Deposit/Electronic Funds Transfer (DD/EFT). The appropriate letter will be sent to the "Representative of the Estate of (payee)", and the Probate Court of the county where the debtor last resided.
(2) If CARD is informally advised of the death through a relative or friend of the debtor or by a returned postal locator request indicating death of the debtor, Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) will be interrogated for date of death for veteran's accounts (payee 00) only. If BIRLS has no record of the death, the information received (postcard, letter, etc.) will be photocopied and sent to the Adjudication Division at the regional office of jurisdiction for verification of death. The CARD master record diary code will be changed to indicate that the regional office has been contacted. If the regional office does not respond within 30 days, the information will again be photocopied and sent to the regional office marked "2d Request" and the account will be diaried for another 30 days. The regional office will determine whether the debtor is deceased and will notify CARD accordingly.
(3) If the regional office states that they have no record of death, a Field Examination Request will be prepared by CARD and forwarded to the regional office, where a representative will be sent to the home to determine whether the debtor is deceased and will then notify CARD of the finding. The CARD will change the account's diary status and update the account for 90 days to show that a field examination has been requested.
(4) If verification of death is received, CARD actions will be taken and letters sent to the representative of the estate and the Probate Court of the county where the debtor last resided. If the Probate Court replies that there is an estate, CARD will seek the advice and assistance of the District Counsel at the regional office of jurisdiction to file a claim against the estate.
h. Bankruptcy
(1) Informal Bankruptcy Notice. Informal notices of bankruptcy (notices from a source other than the court) will be analyzed by CARD and collection action will he suspended. It is essential to have a bankruptcy docket number and a Court location before continuing.
(a) Many times a call to the U.S. District Court where the petition was filed can assist in obtaining this information. If this is unsuccessful, a request will be sent to the debtor to develop the information.
(b) When the requested information is received, it will be forwarded to the Veterans Services Division at the regional office. NOTE: The bankruptcy information will be sent to the regional office closest to the debtor's current address or closest to where the bankruptcy was filed. This may not be where the claims file is located.
(c) If there is no reply after a second request, collection action will resume and the debtor's master file will be annotated "No Reply on Requested Bankruptcy Information (date)".
(2) Formal Bankruptcy Notices. If a notice of bankruptcy is received from the court indicating that a debtor has filed for bankruptcy, CARD will forward the notice to the District Counsel requesting that they file a claim.
(a) If the District Counsel determines that the VA is barred from collection, they will notify CARD and the account will be written off by CARD with an 07E transaction.
(b) If the District Counsel determines that a claim will be filed and advises CARD of this, CARD will change the diary status on the account and up the diary date by 90 days.
(c) If District Counsel advises CARD that the claim was not filed due to no assets, then wait for the Notice of Discharge from the court before writing off the debt. CARD will change the diary status and up the diary date by 90 days. When the Notice of Discharge is received, the account will then be written off by CARD with an 07E transaction.
(d) If the District Counsel advises CARD that the bankruptcy does not bar VA from collecting the debt, CARD will prepare a letter to the debtor advising him/her of this. CARD will also resume collection action within 45 days.
(3) Chapter 13 Bankruptcies. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is designed to permit the debtor to repay his/her debts to creditors in smaller payments than would normally be allowed.
(a) When a Chapter 13 bankruptcy notice is received, CARD will request that the District Counsel file a claim to include the VA as a creditor in the proceedings.
(b) If a Proof of Claim is received from the court to be completed, CARD will forward it to the District Counsel at the appropriate office asking them to file a claim for the VA.
(c) The District Counsel will advise CARD of the decision regarding the Chapter l3 bankruptcy. If the reply states that the plan was approved and that the VA will be receiving payments, diary the account to show "Chapter 13 Plan OK per District Counsel".
(4) Miscellaneous. If a payment is received from the debtor after there was a discharge in bankruptcy, the payment should be returned to appropriation.
If a debt is withheld on or after the date a petition in bankruptcy is filed and District Counsel has determined the debt will be written off due to the bankruptcy, an 06A transaction will be made to refund the amount withheld.
i. Compromise Offers. Upon receipt of a compromise offer, CARD will diary the system appropriate to the status of the account. If no Financial Status Report was included with the offer, a letter will be released to the debtor requesting that an enclosed VA Form 4-5655, Financial Status Report, be completed and returned before the compromise offer is considered. The Chief, CARD and the CARD employees who are members of the St. Paul Regional Office Committee on Waivers and Compromises will accept or reject compromise offers for debts under CARD jurisdiction that meet the criteria set forth in MP-4, part 1, subparagraph 8E.04.
(1) Processing a Compromise Offer.
(a) If a compromise offer is received without a Financial Status Report, a letter will be sent to the debtor enclosing a VA Form 4-5655, Financial Status Report, which is to be completed and returned to CARD. If a debtor returns an incomplete Financial Status Report or indicates that he/she will not complete this form, action will be taken to process the compromise offer with whatever information is available.
(b) Regional offices will forward all compromise offers for accounts under CARD jurisdiction to the Compromise Committee located in CARD. The debtor will be advised that the compromise offer is being considered.
(c) Compromise offers will not be considered by CARD on cases that have been referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) or District Counsel (DC). These offers will be forwarded to the appropriate U.S. attorney or DC for a decision. The DOJ or DC will notify CARD by memo or by Form USA-200 (blue receipt) that a compromise has been accepted. The amount accepted will be sent with their receipt. Any remaining balance will be written off by CARD with an 07D transaction. The appropriate document(s) will be stamped, annotated, initialed and sent to be microfilmed.
(2) Decision on Compromise Offer.
(a) Compromise Offer Denied. The debtor will be advised by CARD that the offer has been denied if the regional office has not previously done so. An appropriate future diary date will be inserted in the CARD master record to continue collection action. If a compromise offer is denied by the DOJ or DC, that office will notify the debtor and take further collection action. The debtor does not have the right to appeal a decision on a compromise offer. However, the debtor can make more than one compromise offer if he/she makes a larger offer or provides new or additional information.
(b) Compromise Offer Accepted. A letter will be released by CARD advising that the offer has been accepted and providing instructions for submitting payment. For education and loan guaranty debts, the letter will also contain a notification that entitlement will be charged for the amount compromised. The amount accepted will be noted in the CARS master record. When total or final payment is received, an 07D transaction will be processed to write off the remaining balance. If the principal amount written off is over $600, it will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, (see MP-4, pt. VIII, ch. 14). If payment is received in the wrong amount, the debtor will be contacted and the diary status on the account updated as appropriate.
(3) Deposit of Remittance Accompanying a Compromise Offer. If a check is tendered in support of an offer to compromise an existing indebtedness, the check will not be deposited prior to a decision to accept the offer. If the offer is rejected, the check will be returned to the debtor unless the debtor has given prior indication of consent to apply the amount of the check against the indebtedness. If a check is inadvertently deposited, this cannot be construed as acceptance of the compromise offer, and is not binding on the VA. However, any funds deposited will be refunded if the offer is rejected.