Statement in Support of Claim question

[maralina1]

  I sent form 21-4138[statement in support of claim] for my father the veteran on 4/19.

  It included the statement: Please accept this correspondence as my informal claim for non-service connected pension with the Aid and Attendance benefit for veteran as provided by the following statute: 38 CFR 3. 155 Informal Claims.

It included his name,address,social,signature,date and phone number.

We recieved a letter back along with the form we had mailed on 5/5. The letter said," We wish to act promptly on your recent correspondence, but because of missing or inaccurate info we cannot identify the proper record.The information listed below will help us. Please completer and return with your original correspondence.

Claim number,service number,date entered service,date of separation.

Request for this info is not indicated on form 21-4138 and there could not be a file number yet.Did I do something wrong?

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[vetadmin]

Sounds like someone new may have processed the form.

Would suggest sending a copy of the DD-214 (separation papers) back with a note. Also check to make sure the SS# is correct. You don't have a claim # assigned yet, and you didn't do anything wrong.

[maralina1]

We decided not to bother with the Support of Claim form and mailed the Apllication for Compensation and/or Pension(21-526) on 5/08.

On 5/17 we recieved a letter saying application was recieved and they will call if additional info is needed.

I thought everything was correct on the Support of Claim form but I am thinking if responding to the VA's letter about it will cause more confusion on their end.

Thanks for your prompt response. 

[vetadmin]

If you provided a completed application, then I would suggest calling to make an inquiry.  I wouldn't let this sit without following up with a call.  You don't want to be 4-5 months out and then check to see they are waiting to hear back from you to continue processing.

[Fit2009]

You do not need to worry about the "we can't find you letter" you answered all the questions in the application - they seem to send that "we can't find you" letter about 50% of the time - why not just send the 21-526 or 534?  They will not ask for that letter now that you have filed the full app, so you are fine.

[maralina1]

We did send the 21-526 on May 8th. They sent a letter saying it was recieved and would contact if further info was needed.

The Support of Claim form was sent in April. This is the one the VA mailed back and stated was incomplete. I don't want to confuse them while they are processing the 21-526. It is only a difference of 1 month of benefits.

[Fit2009]

They will honor that informal claim date, you don't need to do anything about it unless its wrong in the award letter but I'm betting it won't be.