Are you thinking about buying a home but are worried about money for a down payment, a low credit score or even a previous bankruptcy or foreclosure? You may want to check out your heard- earned VA home loan benefit.
There are several benefits to using a VA home loan. When using a VA-backed loan guaranty, if the sale price of the home is at or below its appraised value and you have enough entitlement to cover the value of the home, then a down payment is not required. There may be some fees and closing costs to cover, but you don’t have to worry about private mortgage insurance. Additionally, disabled Veterans may have some fees waived, which makes a VA home loan an even more affordable and attractive option.
If you have experienced a bankruptcy or foreclosure, VA home loans are designed to get you back on your feet, as quickly as possible. With conventional loans, you could wait years to qualify for a home loan, but with VA-backed home loans the typical waiting period is two years for chapter 7 bankruptcy, one year for chapter 13 bankruptcy, and two years following a foreclosure.
If having a low credit score is a concern, a VA home loan could still make home ownership possible. VA does not have a minimum credit score; if one is imposed, it is by the private lender and you can always shop a different lender. But, given that VA is guaranteeing a portion of the loan—essentially telling lenders that VA will cover 25% of the risk—many banks and mortgage companies will accept FICO scores that are lower than what they accept for conventional loans.
Here’s the breakdown of your earned VA Home Loan entitlement:
- Veterans using the VA home loan are generally not required to have a down payment.
- Veterans using the VA home loan also aren’t required to carry any mortgage insurance, which saves borrowers hundreds of dollars on their monthly mortgage payments.
- Veterans using the VA home loan benefit enjoy limited closing costs.
- VA home loans have very competitive interest rates.
- Veterans aren’t charged any prepayment penalty if they are able to pay off their mortgage earlier than required while using the VA loan guaranty.
- VA provides assistance to help Veterans retain their homes during periods of temporary financial difficulty.
- The VA home loan benefit can be used multiple times throughout the Veteran’s life.
For more on the top five benefits to using the VA home loan guaranty, check out this video.
To learn more about any of these topics or your VA home loan benefit in general, be sure to also check out the latest episode of the SITREP.
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68 years old too old?
How good is a VA loan that any seller won’t take? Get ready to have the highest bid and get beat by lower bids. Minding you have a very good credit and 15% down. Waited ten years to build up my credit after it suffering due to being incapacitated for months and then for the rest of my life. While saving tens of thousands of dollars on a fixed income during record inflation. ? One of the big selling points for me deciding to go into the military was being able to get a VA loan, so that one day I would be able to own my own house which I never had growing up. So I could provide to my children which I never had. It’s been two months and I’ve had 2 higher than winning bids. The VA loan does give more buying power but how much does that help if no seller will take it.
What happens if you’re in debt , with the4 gov’t at the local and state ,federal level ? no go ?
I’m sitting frustrated at the lack of communication and navigation through this horrific homeless epidemic that is SOLVABLE! My brother is a 43 year old disabled combat vet that has been homeless since discharge 3/2020. He finally asked me for help last November and he has just been approved for 100% service connected VA Disability. He has a voucher for housing and no place will rent to us let alone a VA mortgage because of his credit. This is something I’ve been fighting for him since I began this caregiving role. I see all the comments on this feed and I am sick to my stomach with how little communication and assistance others are receiving and going through for no good reason! I think it’s horrific how we treat our veterans. There is tons of billions funneled into someone’s pocket to do whatever it takes and get not one veteran is saying, I was helped by xyz. What is wrong in this country?
Where is your brother located? This is an additional resource through U.S. Housing and Urban Development. https://www.hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/resources-for-homeless-veterans/initiatives-and-programs/#mayors-challenge
As a fellow veteran, I too am irreparably sickened by the corruption and mismanagement of the system that PROMISED to help my brothers and sisters-in-arms in their time of need. It’s inexcusable and a stain on what our nation represents. Please, don’t give up!
My homeloan is under LoanCare LLC. I was told by the realtor that my home is backed by the VA. However, my mortgage payments for 2 years were not going to the lender and the attorney I hired, Gallagher and Associates told me not to pay the mortgage. After going through this for another 22 months the lender eventually remodified the prior fixed loan and added taxes. I am a disabled veteran and was scammed by the initial realtor during the 2018 preditory action. 25 years 7 months 36 days combined service. Please help me a disabled veteran. Thank you
I am a veteran of over 26 years of honorable service. I keep reading about how VA encourages veterans to secure their home loan benefits. The only thing that we are not told is, this only applies to those veterans residing in the USA. If you are a veteran living abroad, the benefits does not exist. We are excluded because of where we chose to live. There is a VA news letter that also encourages veterans living abroad to apply for all the benefits they are untitle too, but once you begin the process. In one of the last pages it saids you can not purchase property abroad. We serve only to be denied the most important benefit a veterans could want, his own home. Thank you for your service.
can you tell me the present interest rate
just started trying again for a loan for a house , i already own property and need a house built to replace one that is crumbling into the ground . i mention this when i speak to people but they want to refer me to a real estate agent ?????? already finding so many obstacles that i am ready to give up and settle for the tent i bought .
Greetings from Brookings, OR.
A major cause of Veteran homelessness is a result of VA Lending Requirements.
As housing costs skyrocket and rent becomes unaffordable Nationwide, the Veterans Administration should reevaluate funding Park Model and Senior Community Fabricated Housing.
ie – trailers, mobile homes, resale prefabs.
Right now nearly 1/2 my combined income goes to renting a small room in a garage. Not bad…..but I’ve resorted to tents & rock structures in the past.
Not sure if this is something you can try. 203k rehab loan
You may already know of or tried this. I hope you are able to get what you need.
I live frugally, I have money for down paymentno debt, no repos, no late charges, AND consequently, I have no credit rating. I have
I would like to know if I’m still eligible to use my VA loan benefits.
Can I get a VA loan to complete a house?
Yes, through a ‘VA Construction loan,’ but the process is difficult because finding lenders willing to finance you can be difficult. It is not impossible, but it is not as simple as a VA loan. VA construction loans, like VA home loans, can help finance the purchase of land and the construction of a brand-new home without the need for a down payment. Best of luck!
Me and my wife are thinking about buying a new home. Not sure what to do or how to come about it.
can a VA Loan be used for home improvements. We need to get a new septic system and will need to look for a loan for that.
I applied for a VA loan before buying this Townhome. They promised me a timeline, but did not meet this! In fact, they gave me a closing date four times after that and never came through, so I had to get a Conventional loan in a hurry because I had the movers, cleaning crew, Pods, realtors, the sellers, etc. waiting for me! I didn’t want to lose this great location and price!
Never trust them again!
I used a VA homeloan in the past and had to move for my federal job. Out the home for sale but it never sold. I filed bankruptcy. I am now retired with no risk of having to be moved again. Can I use the va home loan again?
How do I get a va home loan
I would check to see if your state has a program that helps veterans get a VA home loan. I am currently working with CalVets since I live in California and they have been great. My first house was purchased with a VA loan, but I went through Wells Fargo. Not that it was a horrible experience, but if I didn’t catch it, I could have lost out on saving a lot of money on closing cost since I am a disabled vet. Working with CalVets feels different because all they do is VA loans so they are on top of it. Plus my realtor likes working with them because they follow up on things quickly.
i want a VA loan to buy a house
It would be nice if they quit getting people hyped up about a VA home loan guarantee, but leave everything up to lenders. They should really get their promises straight, and regulate lenders better. So many good veterans missing out on something that’s supposed to be an entitlement. Because the military life creates a lot of housing obstacles and little options.
What is VA’s current interest rate? My credit score is over 800.
I need to know if this is still available to me?? Many years ago l might have used it??? I have excellent ? credit, own my $100000 mobilhome and have some savings for a down. But no tax records.
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I need to know if this is still available to me?? Many years ago l might have used it???
The VA should make it easier to get information to the Veterans that would like to use this benefit. I used it once and the process was confusing at times and most questions were not answered on the VA website. Also credit score does matter which is a shame because most veterans are low income families that don’t qualify. But go ahead and tell us how much you appreciate our service after we gave up the best years of our lives protecting a country and government that doesn’t care about us once the wars are over.
They want you to have to hunt the info down because once you actually learn everything about the VA loan you realize that it was just one big lie and stunt to get you to join the military. By the time you can get a VA loan you’ll need the same credit and cash as you would need for a conventional. The interest rate isn’t very much better either. Anything lower is obviously better but if no seller wants to take it what does that matter? It’s one big con job marketing ploy to reel in recruits. They should make adjustments to make it better than every other loan or at least just as good. In a buyers market it’d probably be different but it’s useless times like now.
I am a Navy veteran, female and 68 years old. I have a small DOD retirement check from my ex-husband for my share of the retirement from my divorce 8 years ago. I also have a somewhat smaller Social Security retirement from my own work history. In 2008 my ex and I had to declare bankruptcy and our house was foreclosed on because of medical bills do to an injury my ex received. For the last 8 years I have lived with my daughter and her soon to be ex, along with my 5 grandkids. More than 40 years ago I used my GI home loan to buy a home in Corpus Christi, Tx. It was sold long, long ago.
Here is my question. My daughter will soon be divorced and her husband will be having to pay her child support and allomony. She has health issues and the alomony will probably be for a long time since her ex knew before he married her about her medical issues and insisted that she stay home and be a full time mother and wife. They were married for almost 20 years. The house we currently live in is big enough for the 4 kids, and in our housing market our current mortgage payment is less than rent for a 3 bedroom house. We have solar panels on the home that are not yet paid for and that will effect the saleablity of the home. Would I be able to get a VA mortgage so we can refinance the home in me and my daughter’s name?
I have a good credit score and so does my daughter, although at the moment my monthly income is not sufficient to qualify for a mortgage without the inclusion of the money she will be getting in the divorce settlement.
I know I will need a copy of my DD214 but what else do I need to get a VA home loan? And can my daughter and I use our combined income to qualify for it? Even if we can not manage to refinance to keep this house, we will need something else to live in, so I would like information.
Thank you
Patricia M. Paiz
US Navy Veteran 1973-76 US Navy reserve 1977-1986
I’m 75 yr old.. can I get a LOAN?
I did at 73
Can you help this partially disabled veteran out?
Does VA cover new construction loans? And if so, what is the interest rate?
how do i get started? i am 52 yrs. old never owned a home. i am a sub-contractor. decent credit score.
It is so easy to get a VA loan but DO NOT GO THRU VETERANS UNITED. They used to be good when I bought my first home but when my son used them they screwed him bad he had to have over 6,000 when he closed
Can a veteran use VA home benefits to purchase a home outside of the United States?
Previously applied and received a COE (late 2021 and 2022) but ailment worsen (am a 100% disabled veteran with heart failure) so was unable to continue until recently where I was told the COE would need to renewed! My question is why would my eligibility be now lowered by less than half of what I was previously eligible for last year! I asked the VA but no answer so far!
Can I qualify with limited incoming revenue?
Can I refinance my current home?
I like to apply for a VA home loan…………………..
Question: can a builder ask for money down 10% to 20%?
How to apply for a VA home loan, I already had the certificate of eligibility.
All your questions can be answered if you go to the VA.Gov website. Once you are there click on the menu and it will bring up different selections. Click on the VA Benefits & Health Care link. That will open up to more selections, click on the Housing Assistance link. This will take you to the links that you need to answer your questions on how to apply and what you’ll need to apply. It has the links How to Request a COE (Certificate of Eligibility), Request a COE online or you can even print out the VA Form 26-1880 and do it by mail. Check out the site, it has everything you need.
Can I use VA home loan in foreign Country?
to buy home or build home.
How may I get my certificate of eligibility, and may I get pre-qualified?
How do I start the BA Home Loan pre-approval process??
This has some good information for new veterans or those who have never known about this benefit. I wish that the VA had forgiveness or a way for Veterans who have had a foreclosure on a prior VA loan.
Does the VA help with refinancing a home
This is totally fake. I have been trying for 20 years to use my VA Home as a disabled veteran. Unfortunately credit scores do matter and if you are an entrepreneur with your own business it’s like you are punished.
Good morning, does the VA home loan apply for willows?
Are there any kenders you would recommend that will waive the low credit score
Can I secure a VA loan even with student loan debt?
I had a VA loan and I got zero help from the VA when I was having trouble. My home was foreclosed and now I cannot get a VA loan unless I pay the VA 25% of the loan amount even though the foreclosure auction paid off the loan.
I am in the exact same boat. My home was foreclosed on because the market crashed when I had to sell. No help from the VA and now the house is worth 3 times what I sold it for. I was told I could never use the VA loan until I paid the entire loan amount back in full.
My ex wife left me with a really bad credit and I am trying to build up my credit, I want to buy my home but I am afraid that I will not get approved.
Do you finance fixer uppers
I’m interested in applying for a v.a home loan.
All good information, but…
You stopped before ‘the next step’ in getting more information.
Do I go to a realtor and start looking at affordable homes?
WHAT/WHERE do I go next?
What a VA construction loans, is that a possibility?
We want to know this also! Want to place modular home on lot that would be included in construction loan. It is difficult to find and institution that will cooperate with VA for loan d/t constraints VA places on lenders what the heck? Application process is complicated…
a simple app
Can I build a new house using a VA loan?
We live in Iowa. Recently we purchase our 1ST home using a traditional bank loan. Try as we may, we could not find one bank that would give us a V.A. home loan. The V.A. was of no help because they are not allowed to give out a list of banks that offer V.A. home loans with 100% financing . Our Senators and Representative were of no help. If anyone knows how to find a bank that offers V.A. home loans, please let me know.
Can a veteran use a VA loan to buy a rental house as an investment?
Great article. Simple and clear.
I am on a VA loan in my current address. I am needing to refinance with cash out to pay off my dept. I’ve been by my mortgage company that I am not able to. One reason being my credit score. The second reason is my interest rate is so low that the VA will not approve of any loan with a higher percentage. Please, if you can HELP me!!!!
I am finding everything about this is false and misleading. I have been trying since last year to be able to buy a house. I am fist time buyer and my credit isn’t very good. I was told this last year and some steps to take. I worked the best I could and reviewed my credit reports and credit scores and loomed into the house stuff again. What I saw was based on what I was told a year ago and what I saw this year I had brought my score up. When contacted a couple people on what I could do I was basically told something completely different than what I saw on Experian, equafax, and TransUnion, and they basically wouldn’t touch me. So I feel everything is deceptive and misleading when the consumer reviews this data. I give the hell up because obviously no matter what I do it will not change and I’ll never get to achieve my dream of owning my own home. I’ll be dead before this will never happen.
Can I use the VA loan to do home repairs on the home I already have
Hello , I’m a retire combat vet. Get a 100% VA I would like to use my VA loan. Could u please help.
The only problem I have with this is, even though you apply for a VA home loan the first thing alot of so called VA Home lenders say is you need at least a 600 score. It is very frustrating.
Same here I’m 100% permanant and total but still can’t get a homeloan cause my credit score stuck 2000 a month renting makes me sick to my stomach
GET A LOAN. HA HA HA… NO NO… YOU FORGET TO TELL US VETERANS THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE , I THINK IT IS 181 DAYS OF ACTIVE DUTY.. VERY MISLEADING.. I ONLY HAD 165 AN WAS DISCHARGED WITH A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN .. SO I CANNOT GET E V.A. LOAN
SORRY
Why does it say 100% financing, but backing only 25% of the loan? I don’t get it
This just means they claim you need 0% down for the loan which is bs. The 25% is the VA covering your loan so you do not have to pay private mortgage insurance which is what lenders charge anyone who doesn’t have 20% down. So if you default the lender takes your house and the VA cuts them a check for 25% of the loan amount. Until you hit 20% equity you would have to pay around 150$ on top of your mortgage. Which is actually a good thing about the VA loan. The way the market is you will need to have close to 20% to sweeten the deal in your contract just to have a chance to compete with a conventional loan. Due to the misconceptions and misinformation out there with VA loan appraisers giving low appraisals sellers with multiple offers will take a lower offer if it’s conventional or cash. Sellers think it takes longer to close which it does but not by very much. Lastly the inspection is more stringent than others. So it is easier to go with a loan that doesn’t have all of those requirements even if it is lower. I’m 100% service connected after getting injured in Iraq my credit was ruined it took me 10 years to recover and get it to being almost excellent. Now I’m finding out it’d almost be better to have more money than to have perfect credit because no one will take a VA loan if there is close competition. I’ve lost 2 bids lower than mine. It’s frustrating considering that was one of the things that really swayed me into joining the military. The way they lie to us and misrepresent the VA loan as something fantastic is just a big pile of sht. You need at least 620 score and probably at least 15% of the loan amount to have any shot. If your area has houses sitting than maybe you wouldn’t need as much but in an area with a hot market you’ll need extra money for down payment, appraisal guarantee and maybe even writing in you’ll pay some for repairs if needed. Appraisal guarantee means if the house appraised for less than what you agreed to you’ll pay the difference out of pocket. Meaning the appraiser says this house is only 200k so the mortgage company will only give you that and no more but you agreed to pay 210k you would have to come up with that 10k and it would not even be considered part of the down payment you would have to take that as a loss basically.
I am a veteran. Need a home improvement loan. Who do I contact for this.