Features
- Broad qualification requirements
- No down payment on most purchase loans2
- Lower closing cost limits
- Lower interest rates than most conventional loans
- Allows broader range of income, debt, and credit history than conventional mortgages
- No private mortgage insurance or upfront mortgage insurance
- 1-4 unit homes, VA-approved condominiums, manufactured homes
- Requires a funding fee between 1.25% and 3.3% paid at closing (may be rolled into the total loan amount)
- Only available to purchase or refinance a primary residence
Who Should Use a VA Loan?
VA Loans allow veterans to borrow at a competitive rate without a large down payment or monthly mortgage insurance, and with less stringent credit requirements. To be eligible for a VA loan, veterans, service members who are in active duty, National Guard members, and reservists must meet a set of basic requirements that have been determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The program benefits have also been extended to the spouses of military members who died while on active duty or suffered a disability while in service.
You may be eligible if you meet one of the following criteria:
- Service totaling 181 days or more of active service during peacetime
- Service totaling 90 consecutive days or more of active service during wartime
- Service totaling 6 years or more in the National Guard or Reserves, or served 90 days (at least 30 of them consecutively) under Title 32 orders
- Suffered a service-connected disability
- You are the spouse of a military member who died while on active duty from a service-connected cause.
Eligible veterans can refinance their home to get cash out to pay off debt, make home improvements, or pay off personal expenses.3
- U.S Department of Veterans Affairs backed VA Loan, with similar eligibility requirements
- Can be used to refinance VA or conventional mortgages
- Only available for primary residence
Existing VA loan holders can refinance to get a lower interest rate or to a shorter term.3
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs backed VA Loan, with similar eligibility requirements
- Typically does not require an appraisal
- Less paperwork and faster than typical refinance
1 Subject to VA eligibility.
2 A down payment is required if the borrower does not have full VA entitlement or when the loan amount exceeds the VA county limits. VA loans subject to individual VA Entitlement amounts and eligibility, qualifying factors such as income and credit guidelines, and property limits.
3 By refinancing the existing loan, the total finance charges may be higher over the life of the loan.