West Virginians, FEMA Determination Letter Not Always The Final Word

Oct. 3, 2017
FEMA-4331 WV 009
State Media Contact: 304-541-9990
NEWS DESK: 215-931-5597
SBA: 404-331-0331

If you’re a survivor of the West Virginia severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides of July 28-29, 2017 and get a letter that says your application for federal assistance is “ineligible” or “incomplete,” be sure to read the letter all the way through to the end to find out why. All applicants have the right to appeal and many times a quick fix will change the determination.

Reasons for receiving an ineligible determination:
Most common reason for ineligibility: you didn’t provide FEMA with a copy of a letter verifying your insurance coverage and detailing your settlement. FEMA needs this to process your grant application.
Your insurance company will be able to provide you the documents.

Other reasons for ineligibility may include:
• You did not sign the required documents.
• You did not prove occupancy or ownership.
• Your identity may not have been verified.
• The damage is not to your primary residence, but to a secondary home or a rental property.
• Another member of your household may have applied and received assistance.
• Your disaster-related losses could not be verified.

What you should do next:
You may take copies of the documents to your closest Disaster Recovery Center where a FEMA specialist can help you. To contact a specialist, call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. If you use TTY, call 800-462-7585. If you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 800-621-3362.

OR you can do one of the following:

Mail copies of the needed documents within 60 days of receiving your letter to the address below:mail copies of the needed documents within 60 days of receiving your letter to the address below:
FEMA – Individuals & Households Program
National Processing Service Center
P.O. Box 10055 Hyattsville, MD 20782-7055

FAX the documents to: 800-827-8112 Attention: FEMA – Individuals & Households Program

It’s important to write the registration number FEMA gave you after applying for help on all documents; include the federal disaster declaration number, DR-4331-WV.

If you have more questions:
Call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362. If you use TTY, call 800-462-7585. If you use 711 or Video Relay Service (VRS), call 800-621-3362.

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Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-FEMA (3362). For TTY call 800-462-7585.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/femaregion3 and the FEMA Blog at http://blog.fema.gov.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes, and private non-profit organizations fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. These disaster loans cover losses not fully compensated by insurance or other recoveries and do not duplicate benefits of other agencies or organizations. For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center by calling (800) 659-2955, emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov, or visiting SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/disaster. Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may call (800) 877-8339