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For 12 years, I was active duty military in the US Air Force. I worked in finance, and here is what military "member(s)" and spouses need to know about ALL military finance offices:
GENERAL: The military's first duty is to protect the member. If you are a relative of a military member, Finance is by law prohibited from giving you any information until you show them a properly endorsed "Special Power of Attorney" authorizing you access to the data you request.
Do NOT ask or expect the Finance office to keep your PoA on file for future reference. They are NOT your safety deposit box. They are NOT your secretary. They do NOT have the manpower or filing cabinet space to maintain YOUR important documents. Bring your PoA every time you come to the office with questions. If you do not have it or cannot get one, do NOT bother going to the finance office. It is a waste of your time, because you will be turned away. And it is extraordinarily inconsiderate to keep everyone else in the lobby waiting for help when you are NOT prepared to receive help.
SPOUSES: NO MILITARY OFFICE will release personal data to the spouse simply because he/she has a dependant ID card. If you are the civilian spouse of an officer and you think your marriage entitles you to special consideration, THINK AGAIN!! I could not say this when I was active duty, but I can say it now without reprecussions, spouses who think the military member's achieves are their own are the worst type of customer! They are abusive. They think they have a right bark at the enlisted customer service technician. If you do this, YOU ARE OUT OF LINE! With the exception of medical personnel, any other customer service organization speaks to you out of courtesy ONLY! It is NOT their obligation. Our regulations do NOT require us to speak to you. Mind your manners when you enter a military customer service office AND do not ask for more than is listed on the PoA that is IN YOUR HAND! Make sure you have the PoA each and every time you go to the office or stay at home! These offices are NOT your personal filing cabinet. They do NOT keep your important documents for future reference. If that sheet of paper is not important enough to you to bring it in each and every time you need something, don't expect these offices to give a damn about it for you!
DD 214 (separation) & RETIREMENT ORDERS: Many members divorce and their former spouses try to get separation/retirement orders from the military for purposes of alimony, child support, and VA benefits. Spouses are NOT entitled to this document through any military office! The socical security number on the document is NOT yours! If you want a copy, you must get it from your former spouse or get a court order to compel the veteran member to provide it. You have NO other recourse. Telling the government agency your personal sob story or yelling at them about your plight will not convince anyone to violate the Privacy Act of 1974. YES, that's right; it is a federal crime to give you the veteran's separation/retirement orders because someone else's social security number is on it.
BASE HOUSING AND MONETARY BAH
BASE HOUSING: Once you are handed the keys to a base housing unit, you are "assigned" and your monetary BAH stopped effective 2400 hours the day before you got the keys.
If your BAH payment does not stop on the next available paycheck, DO NOT SPEND IT! It is likely that the "stop" paperwork is still flowing through the payroll database (called DJMS or JUMPS). Once your record updates, you will have a debt. Better to have the money tucked away in the bank than be subjected to installment payments.
BAH-DIFF: If you are paying child support, you know what this is. What you probably do NOT know is this:
1) It is NOT intended for alimony. Alimony is your burden to bear. BAH-Diff is for the support of CHILDREN only! And you MUST have a divorce decree stating child support amount OR an appropriately signed legal affidavit from the child's caregiver that you are making child support payments voluntarily/without a court order.
2) If your ex-spouse moves into military base housing with your kids, you have to get your BAH-Diff stopped! Base housing is considered a With-Dependent Rate BAH entitlement. The military is already paying for their support and they will not pay it twice by continuing your BAH-Diff.
3) Garnishments & Allotments: The reasons for garnishment are never truly known by the local finance office. It is however assumed that it's for child support because that is the primary reason for it. The reason you start a checking or savings allotment is NEVER known to finance office. They don't care what you're doing with that money. Finance only cares that the accounting number, account type (checking or savings) and the routing number are valid. If you start an allotment for child support prior to the garnishment hitting your pay, it is up to YOU to stop the allotment so you are not double paying. Do NOT assume that your finance office will do it for you. Those folks are NOT your personal accountants.
NOTE 1: Non-entitlement to BAH-Diff does NOT mean your child support payments stop. You are still legally obligated by directive of Family Court to make those payments, and it comes out of your pocket.
NOTE 2: A lot of members (particularly men) go to finance with a sob story about the hardship of this situation. The customer service tech will not tell you this because have to be nice and professional, but I'm not obligated to do that, so I am going to tell you how it really is: your financial hardship is NOT the military's concern. The finance office cannot and WILL NOT bend the rules no matter how hard you tug on the heart strings. The regulation is clear: NO ONE collects BAH-Diff on behalf of children who live in base housing. You need to take your financial situation to your lawyer and the courts.
WITH-DEPENDENT BAH: You are entitled if your dependents live off base AND you are supporting them. If for any reason you STOP supporting them, it is in your best interests to go to the Finance office to get your BAH entitlement reduced to the single rate.
WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS?
Reason 1: When you signed the application to receive With-Dependent Rate BAH, you certified that it was for the support of dependents. That situation has now changed, and if you keep the money, you're now stealing. Will you go to prison for it? NO, but Finance does eventually find out. Finance retroactively reduces you to single rate. Now you have a debt! Do you really want to pay a debt on top of alimony and/or child support?
Reason 2: If your former spouse suspects you're still getting full entitlements and you're not giving him/her any money, the spouse will call Finance to report it. Finance will tell her if you are still getting full entitlements or not, but it will tell her to type a letter, send it, and it will be used as supporting documentation to the entitlement AGAIN retroactively. You think your ex won't tell his/her lawyer about this? What will the Family Court judge think of you when it comes out? It's called "alienation of funds" and I guarantee you, the judge is not going to like it. So now you have a debt, alimony, child support, AND a judge who is not on your side.
Mil-2-Mil MARRIED, No children: Each is entitled to SINGLE RATE BAH.
Mil-2-Mil MARRIED, ALL or SOME children (natural born, step, and/or adopted) living w/ you: Only ONE gets with-dependent rate BAH. The other gets single. There is NO BAH-Diff entitlement to either of you for child support for children not in our custody.
WHY IS THIS? The regulation defines "Categories of Dependents." When you are married to a civilian, your spouse is one category and takes precedence over all others. Parent/Parent-in-law whom the military allows you to claim as a dependent is another category and does NOT take precedence over others. Children are the middle category, and no matter if they are biological, step, adopted, living with you, living with someone else - they fall into ONE category. Therefore, as far as the regulation is concerned, your With-Dependent Rate payment covers them all.
DIVORCED FROM A MILITARY MEMBER: The person listed as "custodial parent" on the divorce decree is entitled to With-Dependent Rate BAH. If the other member is NOT entitled to BAH-Diff. If that member is required to pay child support, he/she pays from their own pocket.
TRUE STORY, this was investigated and prosecuted by the Air Force and Navy: I had a female NCO who had been married to a Seaman. They had two children. When they divorced, she got custody and then remarried. The second husband was USAF, and had children from a previous marriage. Those children lived with their civilian mother. The Navy member and the second husband were collecting BAH-Diff, and the female was getting With-Dependent BAH until her recent assignment to base housing. I explained categories of dependents to the USAF members. I corrected their pay records effective IMMEDIATELY to prevent further overpayment. I told them to come back with their divorce decrees so I could go back and put in the correct dates. I informed them that there would be a debt. After three days, they did not return. I called AFOSI. They said the Navy already notified them and were pursuing action. AFOSI asked for an affidavit from me about the conversation I had with the USAF members and copies of the corrective actions I made to their pay records. I was never called to testify, but then again, they didn't probably didn't need me to. The pay records and divorce decrees made the case.
DEBTS: Excuses & Appropriate Actions
In military finance, there is ONE absolute: an LES is generated for every active duty member at the end of each month. For this reason, 99% of all unreported overpayment is the member's fault. The 1% exception are those who are deployed with no access to the internet or a phone to call whomever is handling their finances back home.
Things you NEVER want to say Finance's debt processing clerk:
- My wife handles the household finances, so I didn't know.
- No, I wasn't deployed, but I haven't gotten an LES.
- Yes, I get an LES. I look at the dollar amount and the throw it away.
- Some other office didn't send you the paperwork. It wasn't my fault, so I shouldn't have to pay the money back.
- I didn't know what that money was for, but yes, I spent it.
The paycheck is paid to YOU! The LES is issued in YOUR NAME! Check your officer and enlisted promotion fitness manuals; YOU are responsible for reading your LES and correcting/reporting inaccuracies! Your spouse is not responsible. LESs can be retrieved from the internet. If you haven't been deployed, you can go down to the finance office and have them print you one. YOU have reasonable access to an LES. Spending money that you're not sure you earned is just plain stupid!
Do not EVER say those above sentences aloud! When you eventually file a remission/waiver application, the Finance technician WILL put what you said on the document; and I guarantee you a DENIED application if you use one of the forementioned "excuses'!
How do you get out of debt?
If the excuses above are the real reason you accrued the debt, there's nothing you can do to get out of it. Budget. Free up some money. Start paying the debt.
How does Finance and/or DFAS figure out your ability to pay?
Your financial declaration/statement. If you pay MORE than your minimum amount to credit cards each month, the excess funds can be reallocated to pay your debt. If you have an outrageous entertainment expense, like $800 in golf fees (I've actually seen this before); you have $800 to apply to your debt. Do not think about lying on your application either! Every expense you put on your financial statement must be accompanied with supporting documentation.
How do you avoid getting into debt?
1) Take responsibility for your pay! Read your LES. Understand it! If you cannot make sense of it, go to Finance and ask them to explain it to you.
2) When you notice an overpayment, REPORT IT ASAP! In general, it will be fixed within two pay periods. It takes that long because around the 6th and 20th of each month, DFAS cuts off incoming transactions, so they can prepare payroll for mid-month and end of month. Anything Finance inputs during that preparation period is suspended until the process is complete.
2A) Every time you report an overpayment to finance, get the technican's full name and rank. He/she may refer you to another office because Finance is not always the point of contact for getting entitlements rolling or stopped. Some of the entitlements are parachute pay, fly pay, jump pay, recruiter special duty and clothing allowance. Follow the Finance technician's instructions and every office involved until each office does its part and DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT! Though it is rare, some problems take MONTHS to fix and the loger it takes the more overpayments you receive! At this point, the debt is NOT YOUR FAULT! You are diligent. You are doing everything you can to to fix it. The system is broken, NOT YOU! When the debt does finally hit your pay record, your documentation is your proof that you are not at fault. Under this circumstance, you have a BEAUTIFUL remission/waiver package!
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT guarantee an approved remission/waiver application. I am only stating that your chances for approval are better if you prove that you acted in good faith and with diligence to correct the financial error. While your remission/waiver is reviewed by DFAS, DO NOT SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY! Put it in a savings account. Let it collect interest for you. No matter what happens, YOU CAN KEEP THE INTEREST! If your application is approved, YIPPEE! If not, you have the money in the bank to pay the debt in full with NO financial hardship!
DON'T BE AN ASS!
Yelling at the customer service rep: DO NOT DO THIS! It is not only unprofessional, you're most likely yelling at the wrong person! Within finance offices, especially the USAF, duties are separated. The person at the customer service desk ONLY takes in documents, checks it for accuracy/completeness and sends your paperwork to the processing section. If THAT office cannot process your request, THEY are responsible for sending that document back to you with explanation of the problem.
IN GENERAL, it should not take more than FOUR BUSINESS DAYS to get an unprocessible document back to you. Day 1: your paperwork is received by customer service. Day 2: the processing section can tell whether or not they can work the issue. Morning of Day 3: that document is in your orderly room's drop box (which the orderly room should be clearing out every day) to be returned to you. Sometime on the Day 4, the paperwork should be on your desk. The Customer Service team does NOT generally know that all this has gone on until you come back to the office to resubmit. If your pay record update is not completed within two pay periods, work the process backwards. Go to the orderly room to see if they have the papers. If they don't, you'll be told to call Customer Service. I can promise you, that office forwarded the document to processing center because they know if they don't, YOU WILL BE BACK & MAD AS HELL! They do not want to deal with a cranky customer, so they will not give you reason to come back pised!
If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at the SECTION CHIFF of the "Customer Support" section because he/she is not running the office properly. And it is unfortunately very VERY common for them to run a bad shop. Neither the Chief nor his technicians see customers every day. They don't get yelled at by customers for mistakes. They genarally regard customers as MUTE sheets of paper among 400 sheets of paper that come in everyday.
Let the Chief of Customer Support know you are not mute. Let him/her know that how the mistake affects you. Let him know that from this day out, you're going to tell ALL your coworkers that when something goes wrong with their pay to come here and talk to HIM, and his flight commander, and then his unit commander! If that doesn't light a fire under his a** to do his job right, go to your commander with all of finance's mistakes, who the customers were, when these mistakes occurred, and your commander will have a long talk with Finance's commander and the Wing's Commander!
Tax debts from overpayment of CZTE: The IRS does NOT allow you to repay your monthly taxes obligations in increments. The money comes out of your next available paycheck. If there wasn't enough in that paycheck to cover the debt, the remainder comes out of your pay 15 days later. The cycle keeps going until the obligation is paid. HOW DO YOU AVOID THIS? File your travel voucher ASAP! Once the travel pay hits your bank account, contact Finance to make sure your CZTE has stopped. If it has, great. If not, tell them to stop it NOW! Keep following up every 3 to 5 days until it's done. If you are overpaid in the meantime, do not spend all that money! That money replaces your regular check until the mess is fixed. If you spent it irresponsibly, you are S.O.L.! Don't come running to Finance because you did something foolish!
Why does Finance seem to work so slow?
Two words: Dumba** Customers! The jacka** who was overpaid BAH because he didn't report the mistake like he was supposed to is sitting in the lobby b***hing and moaning about a problem HE CAUSED! Ding bat who didn't file his travel voucher as soon as he got back from the AOR wants to yell at someone for a ZERO paycheck resulting from past due taxes. I once had an E7 throw his LES in my face and snap, "Why is my paycheck $100 shorter this month than it was last month?" Turned out he started a savings allotment the month before. He looked at me dumbfounded, "oh, that comes out of my pay?"
Couldn't say this then, but I tell you know, I wanted to say, "No you dumbf***, it comes out of MY PAY! If allotment didn't come out of the individual's paycheck, EVERYONE WOULD HAVE ALLOTMENTS for 10s of millions of dolars!!"
LEAVE EARNED IN CZTE: is tax free when you use it or sell it; but BE WARE of the following:
1) Inadequate training within the military pay department. If you are in the CZTE area for ONE to SIX days, you've earned .5 days of tax free leave. If you are there from one to 12 days, you've earned 1 full day of tax free leave. 1 to 18 = 1.5, 1 to 24 = 2, 1 to 30 = 2.5. A lot of "kids" in the mil pay department will inaccurately report only one day or the full 30 days to get your FITW & SITW refunded to you correctly. They don't think about the number of days of leave that the transaction affects.
2) Flaw with the DJMS system. If you go to the CZTE area multiple times within the same month, the system does not allow technicians to input more than one CZTE transaction into the database. Thus if your first trip to the AoR was 2 days, and your second trip was five days, you do not get LEAVE credit for the five days because of the initial CZTE transaction.
Finance has to CANCEL the first transaction and repost the correct number of days OR do a corrective action. These transactions (called a XX06 w/ XX01 or XX05) generally cause a debt, so the Finance office might choose NOT to do anything. They rely on your ignorance; if you don't know any better, you won't complain and demand a correction.
How do you avoid this error?
Exercise due dilligence! Keep your travel vouchers AND get a printout from finance on your CZTE leave. Compare and flag the office to errors, regardless if corrective action is in your favor or not! "INTEGRITY" is found in the core values statement within ALL branches of the service!
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