Veterans who owe the Department of Veterans Affairs for a benefit overpayment can now be placed on a repayment plan of 36 months instead of 12, and plans of up to 60 months no longer need a financial form. The change appears in a VA notice published in the Federal Register on Oct. 6. It applies when the monthly payment is above the minimum monthly payment threshold, a dollar figure the notice does not state.
What changed in the repayment rules
An overpayment happens when VA pays out more in benefits than a person was due, and the agency then bills the difference back. Until now, a repayment plan that ran longer than 12 months generally meant filling out VA Form 5655, the Financial Status Report. That form asks about income, expenses and assets.
The notice says repayment plans now automatically extend for 36 months instead of 12 months when over the minimum monthly payment threshold. It also says VA Form 5655 is no longer needed for plans of 60 months or fewer. The notice does not give an effective date and calls the 36-month plan the new policy.
The simple math shows why the length matters. As an example, a $3,600 overpayment comes to $300 a month over 12 months and $100 a month over 36. The same debt stretched to 60 months would be $60 a month.
Veterans, and also spouses and dependents who were overpaid, are the people most likely to be offered a plan. Anyone with a debt letter from VA should find out which payment amount sits above the threshold, because that decides whether the 36-month plan applies automatically.
The next date on this change is Nov. 5, when comments on VA Form 5655 are due, and VA has not yet said what the minimum monthly payment threshold is.
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How to ask for a plan
VA’s debt-help page, updated Sept. 8, lists three ways to request a repayment plan for a benefit overpayment: online through Ask VA, by phone, or by mail to the Debt Management Center, PO Box 11930, St. Paul, MN 55111. Phone hours are Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern, and the TTY number is 711. For a plan shorter than five years, the page lists no form.
The same page says anyone who needs a plan of five years or more has to submit VA Form 5655. The fastest way to send it is online, according to VA, and a PDF of the form can also be mailed to the same St. Paul address. The five-year line on that page and the 60-month line in the Federal Register notice describe the same boundary, since five years is 60 months.
Spouses and dependents have the same options as veterans for benefit overpayments, according to the page.
Waivers, compromises and pauses
A repayment plan is not the only way to respond to a debt. VA lists three other requests on the same page: a compromise offer, where VA accepts a lower payment as full payment, a waiver, which asks VA to forgive the debt, and a hardship suspension, a temporary pause on repayments. Waiver and compromise requests require VA Form 5655.
The deadline for a waiver is short. VA’s manage-debt page says a veteran has one year from the date of the first debt letter to ask for a waiver. A dispute has an even tighter clock: disputing a debt within 30 days of the first letter pauses collection until VA reaches a decision.
A waiver and a repayment plan answer different questions. A waiver says the debt should not be collected. A plan accepts the debt and sets the pace. Someone who may want a waiver has to keep the one-year date in mind even while setting up a plan.
What VA has said about the paperwork
The Oct. 6 notice is a paperwork notice. VA sent the Financial Status Report to the Office of Management and Budget for review and estimates 150,871 respondents for the form. That is VA’s count of people expected to fill out the form, not a count of veterans in debt. Comments on the form are due Nov. 5, 2026.
VA has not said how many people will move to the 36-month plan, and the notice does not give the dollar figure for the minimum monthly payment.
Requesting a 36-month plan
The free route is VA’s manage VA debt page, which leads to Ask VA and to the Debt Management Center phone line. Anyone paying a debt in full, or who gets monthly VA benefits, is told to call first to confirm the amount owed, and the page says to pay the full balance or ask for help by the due date on the collection letter.
Before calling, it helps to have the debt letter in hand, the amount owed, the monthly amount that fits the household budget and the date of the first letter, which starts the waiver clock. Asking which plan length the monthly amount lands in, and whether VA Form 5655 is needed, answers the main questions in one call.
Because the Federal Register notice does not state an effective date, the Debt Management Center is the place to confirm that the 36-month plan is in use for a particular debt.
More Financial Reading
- 24 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 17 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 17 Ways Retirees Are Tapping a Record $14.9 Trillion in Home Equity
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
