Veteran-run. No fees. No runaround.
Your claim got denied.
The reason was a word you were never taught.
We make the VA claims maze make sense. One regulation at a time, in plain English, from a veteran who read the denial letter, looked up every term, and figured out what the rater actually needed.
Upload your VA letter and get it in plain English in about a minute. Never stored.
The real barrier
The system runs on a language you never signed up to learn. Nexus. Secondary. Deferred. Miss what one of those words means and you lose money, or a year, or both.
We are not here to sell you a shortcut. We translate the part that trips everyone up, so you walk in already knowing how the decision gets scored.
Free tool. No signup.
Upload your letter. Get it back in plain English.
Drop your VA decision or denial letter and the decoder reads it and explains what it actually says, term by term, in about a minute. What got granted, what got denied, what the confusing words mean. Your letter is never stored.
Decode my letterThe free library
59 guides. Cited to the regulation. Built for every veteran.
From your first claim to a Board appeal, every common condition, the money questions, and the hard situations other sites will not touch. Plain English, no fees, no fear-mongering.
Ratings & pay
How VA math works: why 50 + 30 = 70
The combined-ratings system the VA actually uses, with a worked example and the rounding rule.
Money
What each rating pays per month (2026)
The current tax-free rate at every level, and how dependents change the check.
Presumptives
PACT Act presumptive conditions
Burn pits and toxic exposure. When a condition is presumed connected, so you skip the nexus.
Appeals
Denied? The three appeal lanes
Supplemental Claim, Higher-Level Review, or Board. Which lane fits your denial, and why.
Conditions
The PTSD claim, start to finish
Service connection, the relaxed stressor rules, and the statement that carries the claim.
Right now
Denied and struggling right now
Real help while you wait: the crisis line, the homeless hotline, and the next move.
Free tools
Not just reading. Working tools for your actual claim.
Every one is free, needs no signup, and stores nothing. The interactive help the other sites put behind a paywall.
Tool
Decode my letter
Upload your VA decision and get it explained in plain English, term by term, in about a minute.
Calculator
Combined rating calculator
The real VA math, bilateral factor and rounding included, with every step shown.
Calculator
Back pay estimator
Your dates and rating in, an estimate of the retroactive lump sum out, at 2026 rates.
Calculator
TDIU eligibility checker
See whether your ratings meet the schedular threshold for 100% pay through unemployability.
Downloads
Printable checklists
C&P exam prep, evidence gathering, and a new-claim starter. Print and work through them.
Membership
VA Claims Copilot
The one paid tool. Reads your letter, remembers your case, drafts your statements. $9.99 a month.
The membership · $9.99 a month · cancel anytime
The VA Claims Copilot works your whole claim.
The free decoder reads one letter. The Copilot handles the rest. Upload your letter and it builds your case file, remembers it, and helps you write your personal statement, build your evidence checklist, prep for your C and P exam, and draft the nexus letter your doctor needs. Fifteen tools, plain English, ten dollars a month. The other guys charge fifteen hundred.
Open the VA Claims CopilotStart with the Denial Decoder
A short, free guide that takes the six terms most likely to be sitting in your denial letter and tells you what each one wants from you. Join the list and it lands in your inbox.