(December 18 – 15:00 ET) – An attempt by Trans World Funding, based in Baltimore, Maryland, to have war disabled veterans assign their pensions to the company and receive a cash settlement is illegal under the Veterans Pension Act, according to Cliff Chadderton, chairman of National Council of Veteran Associations.

Chadderton quoted Section 30 of the act: “No pension or allowance shall be assigned, charged, attached, anticipated, commuted or given as security, and the Minister may refuse to recognize any power of attorney granted by a pensioner with reference to the payment of a pension or an allowance.”

“This provision has been in the Pension Act for many years,” Chadderton stated. “Its purpose was to ensure that veterans did not ‘cash-in’ their pensions, leaving them destitute. The legislation dates back to the 1930’s when many Canadian veterans were being victimized by what researchers have termed ‘loan sharks,'” he stated.

Trans World Funding has been carrying on an active campaign directed at Canadian veterans with the slogan “We pay cash, now!”

The company has posted Internet advertisements in Canada offering veterans “a top dollar sum for cash for your military retirement pension.” The firm states that it will buy pensions for eight years and then return them. Veterans signing on get a one time payment to open a joint bank account with the company which withdraws the pension money as it arrives from the government.

Chadderton stated that, according to his investigations, the company pays only 30 to 40 cents on the dollar. Moreover veterans must take out a life insurance policy naming the company as its benefactor.

Chadderton has now asked the Minister of Veterans Affairs to intervene.
-IE Staff