Garamendi reintroduces bill to prevent overdrafting late veterans’ back accounts
A bipartisan piece of legislation aimed at protecting military families from bank overdrafts following the death of a veteran was reintroduced Friday.
Reps. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, reintroduced the Military Retiree Survivor Comfort Act, which had been introduced by then-Rep. Walter Jones, R-North Carolina in 2007. Jones introduced the bill again in 2019 and died later that year, after which Garamendi was named primary sponsor.
The legislation seeks to prevent the Defense Finance and Accounting Services, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, from taking back the final benefits paid to a veteran when they die. Current DoD policy stipulates that the final month’s retirement payout may be clawed back on a prorated basis if a family is unable to promptly inform the DoD of the veteran’s passing. However, a news release by Garamendi’s office opined that this policy presents problems for military families with joint bank accounts where retirement benefits are deposited electronically. These families, according to the release, “are often unaware that the Department of Defense’s DFAS can claw back overpayments without the accountholder’s consent,” resulting in joint accounts being drained of funds and subject to overdraft fees.
The bill would end the practice for any retirement benefit received for the month in which a veteran was alive for at least 24 hours, per the release.
“Military families suffering the loss of their loved one should not be penalized for an accounting oversight,” Garamendi said in a statement. “The Department of Defense’s current practice of clawing back retirement benefits deposited in joint checking accounts when a veteran dies is both callous and needless. Our Military Retiree Survivor Comfort Act would finally fix this to ensure that our military families have one less worry following the loss of their loved one.”
In another statement, Turner wrote the DoD’s current policy was “misguided” and that the legislation would solve it.
“Military families in grieving should not be punished under heartless and unnecessary penalties,” he said. “Military families deserve our respect, and our bipartisan bill will help these families avoid undue hardship during what is already a difficult time.”