VA Home Loans
VA-backed Veterans home loans can help Veterans, service members, and their survivors to buy, build, improve, or refinance a home. You’ll still need to have the required credit and income for the loan amount you want to borrow. However, a veteran home loan may offer better terms than with a traditional loan from a private bank, mortgage company, or credit union. For example, nearly 90% of VA-backed loans are made with no down payment. Learn about our different loan programs—and how to apply.
VA home loan types
- Purchase loan Looking to buy a home? Find out if you’re eligible for a VA-backed purchase loan to get better terms than with a private-lender loan.
- Native American Direct Loan (NADL) program Are you a Native American Veteran or a Veteran married to a Native American? Find out if you’re eligible for a NADL to buy, build, or improve a home on federal trust land.
- Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL) Have an existing VA-backed home loan? Find out if you’re eligible for a VA-backed IRRRL to help reduce your monthly payments or make them more stable.
- Cash-out refinance loan Want to take cash out of your home equity to pay off debt, pay for school, or take care of other needs? Find out if you’re eligible for a VA-backed cash-out refinance loan.
Eligibility requirements for VA home loan programs
Keep in mind that for a VA-backed home loan, you’ll also need to meet your lender’s credit and income loan requirements to receive financing.
Can I get a Certificate of Eligibility for a VA direct or VA-backed home loan?
You may be able to get a COE if you didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge and you meet the minimum active-duty service requirement based on when you served.
Minimum active-duty service requirements
For service members
If you’ve served for at least 90 continuous days (all at once, without a break in service), you meet the minimum active-duty service requirement.
For Veterans
The minimum active-duty service requirements depend on when you served.
You meet the minimum active-duty service requirement if you served for:
- At least 24 continuous months, or
- The full period (at least 90 days) for which you were called or ordered to active duty, or
- At least 90 days if you were discharged for a hardship, or a reduction in force, or
- Less than 90 days if you were discharged for a service-connected disability
For National Guard members
The minimum active-duty service requirements depend on when you served.
If you’ve served for at least 90 days of active duty, you meet the minimum service requirement.
For Reserve members
The minimum active-duty service requirements depend on when you served.
If you served for at least 90 days of active duty, you meet the minimum service requirement.
How do I request a COE?
You can request a COE through your lender or by mail.
Through your lender
Your lender may be able to use an online system (called Web LGY) to get your COE. Ask your lender about this option.
By mail
To request a COE by mail, fill out a Request for a Certificate of Eligibility (VA Form 26-1880) and mail it to the address for your regional loan center. You can find the address on the last page of the form. Please note that mail requests may take longer than requesting a COE through your lender.
Get VA Form 26-1880 to download
What if I don’t meet the minimum service requirements?
You may still be able to get a COE if you were discharged for one of the reasons listed here.
You must have been discharged for one of these reasons:
- Hardship, or
- The convenience of the government (you must have served at least 20 months of a 2-year enlistment), or
- Early out (you must have served 21 months of a 2-year enlistment), or
- Reduction in force, or
- Certain medical conditions, or
- A service-connected disability (a disability related to your military service)
Can I get a COE as the spouse of a Veteran?
You may be able to get a COE if you’re the surviving spouse of a Veteran or the spouse of a Veteran who’s missing in action or being held as a prisoner of war (POW).
Find out how to request a COE as a surviving spouse
Can I get a COE in any other situations?
You may be able to get a COE if you meet at least one of these requirements.
At least one of these must be true:
- You’re a U.S. citizen who served in the Armed Forces of a government allied with the United States in World War II, or
- You served as a member of certain organizations
These roles in organizations can include:
- Public Health Service officer
- Cadet at the United States Military, Air Force, or Coast Guard Academy
- Midshipman at the United States Naval Academy
- Officer of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
- Merchant seaman during World War II
Can I use a COE I used before?
You may be able to “restore” an entitlement you used in the past to buy another home with a VA direct or VA-backed loan if you meet at least one of these requirements.
At least one of these must be true:
- You’ve sold the home you bought with the prior loan and have paid that loan in full, or
- A qualified Veteran-transferee agrees to assume your loan and substitute their entitlement for the same amount of entitlement you used originally, or
- You’ve repaid your prior loan in full, but haven’t sold the home you bought with that loan (you can only do this one time)
To request an entitlement restoration, fill out a Request for a Certificate of Eligibility (VA Form 26-1880) and send it to the VA regional loan center for your state.
Get VA Form 26-1880 to download
Find your state’s VA regional loan center
VA funding fee and loan closing costs
What is the VA funding fee?
The VA funding fee is a one-time payment that the Veteran, service member, or survivor pays on a VA-backed or VA-direct home loan. This fee helps to lower the cost of the loan for U.S. taxpayers since the VA home loan program doesn’t require down payments or monthly mortgage insurance.
Will I have to pay the VA funding fee?
If you’re using a VA home loan to buy, build, improve, or repair a home or to refinance a mortgage, you’ll need to pay the VA funding fee unless you meet certain requirements.
You won’t have to pay a VA funding fee if any of the below descriptions are true. You’re:
- Receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability, or
- Eligible to receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability, but you’re receiving retirement or active-duty pay instead, or
- The surviving spouse of a Veteran who died in service or from a service-connected disability, or who was disabled, and you’re receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), or
- A service member with a proposed or memorandum rating, before the loan closing date, saying you’re eligible to get compensation because of a pre-discharge claim, or
- A service member on active duty who before or on the loan closing date provides evidence of having received the Purple Heart
You may be eligible for a refund of the VA funding fee if you’re later awarded VA compensation for a service-connected disability. The effective date of your VA compensation must be retroactive to before the date of your loan closing.
How will I pay this fee?
You’ll pay this fee when you close your VA-backed or VA-direct home loan.
You can pay the VA funding fee in either of these ways:
- Include the funding fee in your loan and pay it off over time (called financing), or
- Pay the full fee all at once at closing
How much will I pay?
This depends on the amount of your loan and other factors.
For all loans, we’ll base your VA funding fee on:
- The type of loan you get, and
- The total amount of your loan. We’ll calculate your funding fee as a percentage of your total loan amount.
Depending on your loan type, we may also base your fee on:
- Whether it’s your first time, or a subsequent time, using a VA-backed or VA-direct home loan, and
- Your down payment amount
Note: Your lender will also charge interest on the loan in addition to closing fees. Please be sure to talk to your lender about any loan costs that may be added to your loan amount.
- First Use – down payment less than 5% – Funding fee is 2.3%
- After the first use – the down payment is less than 5% – The funding fee is 3.6%
Other loan closing costs
Who determines my loan details?
We don’t determine most details of your home loan.
Your home loan lender will determine these details of your loan:
- Interest rate
- Discount points (fees you may pay to your lender at closing to get a lower interest rate on your loan)
- Other closing costs
These rates may vary from lender to lender. You should know that adding the VA funding fee and other loan costs to your loan could lead to you owing more money than the fair market value of the home. This could reduce the benefit of refinancing since your payment wouldn’t be as low as you may want it to be. It could also make it harder for you to get enough money out of the future sale of the home to pay off your loan balance.
Who pays for which closing costs?
The seller must pay these closing costs (sometimes called “seller’s concessions”):
- Commission for real estate professionals
- Brokerage fee
- Buyer broker fee
- Termite report (unless you’re using a refinancing loan)
You (the buyer) or the seller can negotiate who will pay other closing costs such as the:
- VA funding fee
- Loan origination fee
- Loan discount points or funds for temporary “buydowns”
- Credit report and payment of any credit balances or judgments
- VA appraisal fee
- Hazard insurance and real estate taxes
- State and local taxes
- Title insurance
- Recording fee
Note: Seller can’t pay more than 4% of the total home loan in seller’s concessions. But this rule only covers some closing costs, including the VA funding fee. The rule doesn’t cover loan discount points.
VA home loan limits
If you have full entitlement, you don’t have a home loan limit
Eligible Veterans, service members, and survivors with full entitlement no longer have limits on loans over $144,000. This means you won’t have to pay a down payment, and we guarantee to your lender that if you default on a loan that’s over $144,000, we’ll pay them up to 25% of the loan amount. You have full entitlement if you meet any of these requirements.
At least one of these must be true:
- You’ve never used your home loan benefit, or
- You’ve paid a previous VA loan in full and sold the property (in this case, you’d have your full entitlement restored), or
- You’ve used your home loan benefit, but had a foreclosure or compromise claim (also called a short sale) and repaid us in full
Note: You may have heard the terms additional entitlement, bonus entitlement, or tier 2 entitlement. We use these terms when we communicate with lenders about VA-backed loans over $144,000. You won’t need to use these terms when applying for a loan.
