Playing Catch Up...and...Deployment Pay

Hey Everyone,

Sorry its been so long since I have written! Its been a whirlwind of crazy stuff going on here in my home. Between finding out I am expecting to my husbands H1N1 scare, you can imagine blogging hasn't been on  the forefront of my mind!!!

Ok, so lets talk about Deployment Pay. While deployment is a tough time for each and every military family, the military tries to lessen the financial burden on those families by not only making your income tax free, but by also including some extra moola! The extra pay is definately, probably the only good part about a deployment (if you can even call it that) You can put some money in savings, pay off bills, save for a down payment on a car, or a home, save for college...whatever you want! However, when your man comes home, your pay stops. Boo. What alot of people are not prepared for however, are the financial audits you go through after a deployment. Its a crazy statistic, but over 30% percent of the military gets overpayed during a deployment due to clerical errors. And guess what? The military doesnt take that laying down. They gave you too much money and you can be sure they will catch it, and take it back. Believe me...been there and done that. They will either issue you a "no pay" or start a "liquidation of indebtedness", removing a set about of money from each paycheck. My husband and I are STILL paying $307.00 a month towards what they overpayed him and that started in April. So my advice to you? After your husband or spouse deploys, make an appt with whoever handles his pay and get his pay checked. Make sure everything is OK. Remember though, you do have to have a POA (Power of Attorney) to take care of any financial (or anything else for that matter!) issues that may arise, so make sure to get one before he deploys (although thats normally something they give your spouse an opporunity to do, during his work-up to a deployment).

Have you ever had any pay issues during deployment?

Have a great Saturday evening! Snuggle up to your hubby or kids and enjoy a movie tonight!

Jennifer