Veterans Promise · FAQs · Rating increases · SMC

Veterans Promise FAQs: Cost, 100% Ratings, SMC, and How We Work

These are the questions people actually ask before they call. How much does this cost. Is the first conversation free. Do you take files that are already at 100%. Do you only do Aid & Attendance. Are you VA. Can you guarantee a rating. The short versions are below. The longer walkthrough of the first call itself is how Veterans Promise works. The comparison page — who this is for, how we work, and free accredited alternatives — is VA disability claims guidance.

Veterans Promise is a veteran-led team based in Nashville. We work with veterans nationwide on rating increases and Special Monthly Compensation, including Aid & Attendance and housebound when the facts support them. We review 100% files. We are not an A&A-only shop. The first conversation is a complimentary consult. We do not bill five times a VA rating increase.

This page is general information, not legal or medical advice. We are not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA decides every claim. No one can honestly guarantee a result. Last reviewed September 2, 2026.

Request a complimentary consult or call (877) 778-0385. Email support@veteranspromise.com.

What does Veterans Promise help with?

Increases and Special Monthly Compensation. Not Aid & Attendance only.

If a condition VA already service-connected has gotten worse, the usual filing is a claim for increase. If a problem was never claimed, that is a new claim. If a new problem is caused or aggravated by a rated disability, that is a secondary. If you disagree with a recent decision, that is usually a supplemental or a higher-level review. If function, anatomy, or confinement is the story the 10–100% table never priced — regular need for personal help, housebound facts, loss of use — that is SMC. Those tools can sit in the same file. They are not the same filing.

We are not a shop that only chases SMC-L. A worsening knee that still matches an increase is core work. A 100% file that nobody ever screened for housebound or Aid & Attendance is also core work. The file picks the tool. Map: rating increases, Special Monthly Compensation, and the resources hub.

Is the first call free?

Yes. The first conversation is a complimentary consult. You are not hiring us by picking up the phone. You can hang up with a clearer picture and never work with us.

Complimentary means there is no charge for that first conversation. It does not mean that later work, if you ask us to take it, is free. After the consult we explain options in plain language before you decide. What to bring, and how that call is sequenced, is on how we work.

Call (877) 778-0385 or request a complimentary consult online.

Do you bill five times the VA rating increase?

No. Veterans Promise does not bill five times the amount of a VA rating increase. We do not use that contingency as our model, and we do not publish a different multiplier so this page can look like a competing rate sheet.

We do not use a contingency tied to the size of a VA rating increase, and we do not publish a multiplier so this page can look like a rate sheet. The first conversation is complimentary. If we take a case after that, the arrangement is explained before you agree to it.

A fee built only on a monthly rating increase has little reason to spend time with a veteran already at 100%, or with a veteran whose real issue is Aid & Attendance, housebound, or another SMC letter the percentage never priced. That is a pricing conclusion, not a rule of law. SMC still exists at 100%. An underrated individual code still exists. We still look.

More on how we work, without duplicating this answer: claims guidance.

Do you work with veterans already at 100%?

Yes. We review 100% files. Schedular 100% is the top of VA’s regular pay table, not the end of the statute. Another 10% on an old code often will not change the 100% row. Special Monthly Compensation — Aid & Attendance, housebound, loss of use, a K add-on — is the usual remaining question. Sometimes the honest answer is that the letter already asked and the facts do not reach an SMC letter. Silence on the award letter is not proof that SMC was considered and denied. It is a reason to look.

A fee built only on a monthly rating increase has little reason to spend time here. Ours is not built that way. Details: 100% is not the ceiling, Aid & Attendance, and housebound.

Are you affiliated with VA?

No. Veterans Promise is a private company. We are not part of, and are not affiliated with, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We do not issue ratings, write decision letters, or schedule C&P exams. Only VA decides claims, ratings, effective dates, and payment amounts.

If a site, an ad, or a voicemail sounds like it is VA, check the URL and the phone number. Ours are veteranspromise.com, (877) 778-0385, and support@veteranspromise.com. Official VA contact starts at VA.gov.

Do you guarantee a rating?

No. Nobody can honestly guarantee a rating, an SMC letter, an effective date, a timeline, or a dollar amount. VA decides. Individual results vary. We will tell you whether we see a theory worth filing. We will not tell you it will win. If the honest answer is leave the file alone, we will say that.

Anyone who promises a percentage, a back-pay number, or a “we never lose” line is selling something the statute does not authorize private companies to sell.

Increase vs new claim vs secondary vs SMC — how do I know?

Match the filing to the file, not to the heading that sounds most familiar.

• Increase. A condition VA already service-connected has gotten worse. Current severity, not a new nexus fight. How to increase a VA disability rating.
• New claim. VA has never decided that condition. Usually VA Form 21-526EZ. Process: VA disability claim process.
• Secondary. A new disability caused or aggravated by one already on the codesheet. Different filing from a higher percentage on the original code. VA secondary conditions.
• SMC. The regular table never priced how you live: loss of use, a regular need for personal help, or being substantially confined to the home — or a codesheet that already shows 100 + 60 and nobody labeled housebound. Special Monthly Compensation.

A supplemental or higher-level review is the lane when you disagree with a decision VA already made. A C&P exam scores the claimed condition; it is not, by itself, an A&A exam. See C&P exam and VA Form 21-2680.

Two doors at once is common. Filing everything at once is still a poor default. The complimentary consult is for picking the filing that fits.

Is there a fee after the consult?

The first conversation is complimentary. After that, if you want help, we explain options on the call before you agree to anything. We do not bill five times a VA rating increase. We do not publish a dollar schedule on this page, and we will not invent one here.

If you need the mechanics of that conversation — what we sort, what we will not do, and how we talk about later work without a fake competing multiplier — read how we work and then use the consult. The honest place to hear the arrangement that would apply to your file is that call, not a guessed number in an FAQ.

Is the representative on the application VA accredited?

The representative who signs onto a Veterans Promise application is VA accredited. That is the person VA sees on the claim. It does not mean every person at the company is accredited, and it does not mean we are VA or a VSO. Free accredited VSO help still exists if you want it. Search Find a VA accredited representative or VSO.

Do free accredited VSO or attorney options exist?

Yes. VA-accredited Veterans Service Organization representatives help with claims and decision reviews at no charge. Accredited attorneys and claims agents can charge fees under VA’s rules. VA does not automatically assign you a representative. You appoint one. The official search is Find a VA accredited representative or VSO.

If you already have a representative you trust, keep them. Firing a VSO is not a requirement to talk to us. We are a private company — not VA, and not a VSO. The representative who signs onto our application is still VA accredited. A second look at increases and SMC, including at 90% or 100%, is a normal reason to call. It is optional.

Complimentary consult

Start with a conversation, not a contract pitch. Bring the latest rating decision if you have it, plus a medication list and an honest description of a typical week — including whether anyone helps with personal care. If you have none of that yet, still call. Consults are by phone. You do not have to come to Nashville.

We sit in Middle Tennessee and take files in every state. More: VA disability help in Nashville and the resources library.

Call (877) 778-0385 or request a complimentary consult online. Email support@veteranspromise.com.