John Bell, III, executive director of VA’s Loan Guaranty Service (LGY), recently met with Veterans United Home Loans (VUHL), a lender based in Columbia, Missouri, to share how it can help Veterans overcome current challenges in the housing market.
Bell’s visit marked the start of a year-long engagement with industry stakeholders, aimed at ensuring the VA home loan program remains the product of choice for Veterans. VUHL, he noted, has closed more than 500,000 VA home loans over the last two decades.
A central point in Bell’s address was the importance of continuous improvement through its modernization efforts, and he explained how VA is undergoing a technological transformation to harness data efficiently. The goal is to provide resources, certifications and streamlined information for a smoother loan process.
Bell also highlighted LGY’s shift to Service-Now, a customer service management application, achieving a 94% response rate within 48 hours, improving communication and efficiency.
Education also emerged as a recurring theme, as Bell emphasized the need to dispel misconceptions about VA loans, particularly those dating back decades.
“I appreciate VUHL’s dedication to being well-informed about VA mortgages, providing friendly service to military homebuyers, and contributing positively to communities across the country. Your efforts must continue to aim at making a genuine difference in Veterans’ lives daily,” Bell said. “With increased awareness and understanding, more Veterans will be able to take advantage of the program,” Bell continued. “I want to underscore our commitment to creating a smoother, more efficient, and more welcoming environment for Veterans seeking to utilize their benefits.”
For additional insights on how VA supports Veterans’ homeownership through collaboration with industry lenders, please visit the VA Home Loans Lenders Page: Benefits.VA.gov/Homeloans/Lenders
Topics in this story
More Stories
The “Increase Your Credit Score” workshop will be a live event with credit experts whose aim is to help you bolster your credit score and financial stability.
Tax filing season has become a popular time for scammers to target unsuspecting taxpayers through multiple communication avenues. VA wants Veterans to remain vigilant against cyberattacks aimed at stealing personal and financial information.
The VA Health and Benefits mobile app is modernizing how Veterans access and manage their health care and benefits information.
I am a veteran, and evidently I need ‘specific points’, and I do not have that total in order to qualify for a VA loan.
It has been difficult to procure my total points from the VA services.
Can you help?
Don’t use USAA for a VA loan. I was preapproved for a $200,000 home loan with zero down.. I signed a purchase offer and bought the home. When I called USAA to go ahead with the loan I was told that I don’t qualify. I had to put $50,000 down to get the loan .
They sold the loan a few days after I closed on the home. They could make more money for the loan with the down payment. They knew I had the money which I disclosed when I was originally approved. I was making 6% or more in the stock market. The loan was
4 %. I’m now losing at least 2% of $50,000 annually or at least $1000. each year or a minimum of$20,000. I wanted the VA to address the fraud so other vets wouldn’t have to get ripped off by USAA. The VA ignored the issue. They looked the other way.
The VA Mortgage has a great many positives since it involves quality control on the purchased property.
Of special importance, as I found in my purchase last year, was that in new developments, the developer tries to pressure the homebuyer into using the mortgage company linked to the developer. Over the period in which we created the design features we wanted, and negotiated pricing, the developer’s mortgage company’s contractual terms changed repeatedly.
Fortunately, we shopped around, but in the end, decided our SAFEST bet was with a VA loan which had no hidden costs – routine in other [commercial] mortgages.
When we compared closing costs, we were able to negotiate our interest rate down to well under 3%, and the closing costs down to $35,000 [compared to 76,000 from our developer’s preferred mortgage company [Well Fargo]. Had we not demanded a VA loan, we’d have had no guaranteed rate, nor would we have an accurate accounting of closing costs before going to closing.
These may not seem like big issues, but, mortgage companies know they have strict accounting when they agree to a VA mortgage for a buyer – where with non-VA loans, they can force the buyer to agree to “Arbitration” for any legal challenges, rather than the Court process for “breach of contract” or “fraud” by the commercial lender.
Going with the VA mortgage was, in retrospect, the best decision we could have made.