Final Pay

ym244

PEB Forum Regular Member
Hello. I know this isn't exactly PEB related but I thought perhaps it might be useful for others to get the answer for planning purposes.

The question. I just finished up my PTDY and am now officially retired. I'm wondering if those of you who have recently been retired had timelines on how long it took to receive your final pay and did your retirement pay start the following full month after retirement. I see that my final LES is online, however, it states hold pay status (which I looked up online and it says they hold your pay until your records are reviewed) and a zero balance for eom pay (this worries me as I didn't owe any money when I left). The finance guy told me when I did my final out that it could take up to 30 days but then another gal in the office said it took more like 3-10 days after your actual retirement date to receive your final pay. She even said that since my retirement date was the 23rd I'd probably get it at the normal time. Now recently, (and this is where my concern comes in) I was told by a friend that it can sometimes take months to receive it. I guess I'd just like to hear from someone that their final LES said the same and they still received their pay. LOL

If anyone could post timelines, I'd really appreciate it. I have money put away that I wanted to use to get a house and get settled at my final destination and not use for travel money... Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Oh, and I should mention that I'd like AF specific answers as I've read online that they Army absolutely does hold for 30 days at least. There is just no information on this from the AF side and I feel like I may have been given wrong information during my final out (which wouldn't surprise me but...). Thanks again!
 
I'm AF (or WAS anyway!). My DOS was 23 December and I got my severance on the 24th!!! I can't BELIEVE I got that money the day after my DOS, and on Christmas Eve no less! I'm still speechless. I can't express what a happy surprise it was to see that money in my account, I almost had a heart attack, lol! I'm sure my case was NOT the norm though! I heard it would take 2-3 weeks after DOS...
 
I'm Army and mine went through in about 2 days. When you retire, they aren't as worried about holding your pay because they can always garnish your retirement check if a debt pops up. If you just separate, it can be held for a bit to ensure all the debts or other deductions have time to go through before they send you your final check.

Do you know who specifically you outprocessed with? Generally final pays are hand calculated, so the 30 day claim is a buffer in case they get backed up so they don't have a ton of people calling all the time. I believe it's the old, tell them 4 days and they'll be calling pissed off on day 5. Tell them 30 days and when they get it in 2-4 they'll be impressed.

Again, I'm Army, but my final pay came about 2 days after retirement (25th of the month) and my first retired pay came on the 3rd of the next month (just remember it will be a partial pay for you from the 23rd to the end of the month).
 
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