Older veterans were much less likely to file complaints about their credit report in 2023 than the general population … but other types of scams, frauds, and financial concerns were much more prevalent among former servicemembers, a government report found.

Complaints from self-identified veterans over age 62 jumped 17% from 2022 to 2023, according to the annual report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Servicemember Affairs, released last month. And while the report says far fewer of these complaints focused on credit reports than in the general public – 21% of veterans versus 79% of the overall population – it pointed to several areas where older veterans reported more problems:

• Credit card complaints made up 19% of older veterans’ issues, compared with 4.2% of the general public.
  
  
• Checking- or savings-related complaints made up 17% of older veterans’ issues, compared with 3.9% of the general public.
  
  
• Mortgage-related claims made up 12% of older veterans’ issues, compared with only 1.7% of the general public.

[RELATED: What Sellers Need to Know About VA Home Loan Assumptions]

The last bullet may be the easiest to explain – veterans’ eligibility for VA-secured home loans makes them tempting targets for all manner of fraud, including being contacted by scammers posing as government officials. The Federal Trade Commission outlines some protections for vulnerable veterans, while the VA has its own list of tips.

Protecting Personal Information

The other types of veteran-heavy complaints don’t necessarily point to attempted fraud. For instance, credit card complaints include challenging potentially fraudulent charges, but also include trouble using a card or making a payment, or with securing a card in the first place.

Veterans can reduce their odds to face these types of issues by protecting their personal information – material that could be used by scammers to set up credit cards or bank accounts in the veteran’s name. These scams rarely involve the accounts themselves, instead coming in the form of “phishing” emails designed to resemble official financial correspondence or phone calls promising lavish prizes or discounts in exchange for personal data.

MOAA offers several resources to help protect you from these types of threats, to include:

• A three-part series on avoiding scams.
  
  
• A series of recorded webinars on fraud and scam avoidance (available to Premium and Life members): An Overview of Scams and Frauds | Outsmart the Scammers: How to Spot and Avoid Financial Fraud | Protecting Yourself From Cybercrime and Scams
  
  
• Our partnership with the Cybercrime Support Network’s Military and Veteran Program, which aims to protect servicemembers, veterans, and military families from falling victim to fraud. Get more resources from that organization at this link.