Accredited vs Certified Veterans Benefits Consultant

[AidandAttendance]

Hello everyone,
What is the difference from an Accredited VA Claims Agent and a Certified Veterans Benefits Consultant?
From all that I found is the "Accredited" is an actual VA recognized rep and the Certified Veterans Benefits Consultant is more of a marketing thing where you join a private organization and they provide a website? Is that officially recognized by the VA?
I know the VA has been sending back applications for people who are not representated by VA "Accredited" individuals if there application was filled out by a 3rd party!
Thanks!

[Lynn]

Ok I don't know if this is in the same vein, but I first found out about A & A via someone who wanted to charge me $3000.00 to fill out the paperwork and another $1200.00 for Medicaid diversion. A lot of money! Don't know if they were accredited or certified. Is this helpful or necessary? I thought I could do it myself?

[Fit2009]

Hi Lynn,
You can do it yourself - it is exactly like doing your taxes, some people want to do it themselves and some want to hire other people to help them - I believe this is a good thing because previously people were precluded from charging veterans or their families for helping them on the premise the VA will do it for free - while that may be a nice altristic thought, it resulted in veterans being the only disinfranchised people in America - can you imagine if the rule had been you can't charge someone for representation with the IRS because the IRS will help you?  Or you can't pay a lawyer for representaiton because the government will help you?  That is the situation that veterans were in until 2 years ago.

Now they have a choice - and just like everything else, let the buyer beware - a lot of the firms popping up are actually "asset protection" companies, whose main focus is you buying a financial product from them - whether it is really necessary or not.  Others are price gauging.

The reputable ones, in my opinion, have a VA accredited attorney on staff and do not require you to purchase their financial services -Debbie does an excellent job of vetting her advertisers, so if you want help, I would start there.