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Hello,
Time is running out to select the single banking account where you want all your benefits money to go.
Ensuring your benefits go to a single account is the best way to protect yourself – and your fellow GI Bill recipients – from fraud and help ensure that VA can provide payments on time and without error.
Our records continue to show that you have 2 bank accounts listed for your benefit direct deposit payments – one for your GI Bill, and another for your other VA benefit, such as disability compensation. This means that you must consolidate your payments into one direct deposit account by April 20, 2024, as VA will no longer support sending benefits to multiple bank accounts. This is to reduce fraud and improper payments.
The easiest way for to make this change is to logon to Change Your VA Direct Deposit Information | Veterans Affairs. When you get to the pay information, there will be a box for the bank account information of your education benefits, and a box for the bank account information for the other benefit you receive. You should then update the bank account information to use the same account for all benefits.
Importantly, you will not miss a benefits payment of any type. If you do not consolidate your bank accounts for benefits by April 20, VA will consolidate them on your behalf, electing your non-education benefit pay account as your primary bank account. If VA automatically elects your non-education benefit pay account, this change will not take effect until after the May 1, 2024, GI Bill payment is made.
Changing payment information is an individual, self-serve process. To do this, beneficiaries can take these steps:
- Sign into VA.gov with a verified gov or ID.me account.
- Go to the Direct deposit information section of their gov profile.
- Check their direct deposit information for all benefit payments to make sure the same account is listed for all.
a. There will be a box with direct deposit information for education benefits AND a box for the other benefit they receive.
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If the accounts in both boxes don’t match, they must update the information so it’s the same bank account from both VA benefits.
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If you currently get GI Bill payments by check, you must add your direct deposit information in the education benefits section of your VA.gov profile.
Beneficiaries who do not have a bank account can go to Veterans Benefits Banking Program (VBBP) – Veterans Benefits Administration (va.gov). For step-by-step instructions on how to update deposit information online, go to www.va.gov/resources/how-to-change-direct-deposit-information-for-va-benefits/.
The choice is yours, select an account today!
Respectfully,
Education Service
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