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Wartime And Peacetime Eligibility Differences For VA Loans

Wartime And Peacetime Eligibility Differences For VA Loans

What are some more exact requirements for eligibility for those veterans who are interested in obtaining home financing assistance from the Veterans Administration? Briefly, a veteran is eligible for VA home loan benefits if he or she served on active duty in any of the following branches of the armed forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard. Furthermore, you must also have been discharged under any conditions other than dishonorable after a certain time period.

These time periods are based upon whether you served during wartime or peacetime. For those veterans who served during wartime, the timeframe for eligibility is 90 days or more. If the veteran served during peacetime, the amount of days for eligibility is 181 continuous days or more.

Specific periods of wartime and peacetime that are covered under the provision of the VA's General Rule for Eligibility, include the following periods of time:

Wartime - World War II: 9/16/40-7/25/47; Korean conflict: 6/27/50-1/31/55; Vietnam era: 8/5/64-5/7/75; Persian Gulf War: 8/2/90 – undetermined

Peacetime - Post-World War II period: 7/26/47-6/26/50; Post-Korean period

2/1/55-8/4/64; Post-Vietnam period: 5/8/75-8/1/90

How Can You Cut Down Or Eliminate Your Closing Costs?

How Can You Cut Down Or Eliminate Your Closing Costs?

Many veterans have the mistaken impression that the closing costs for a home loan are actually covered by a VA mortgage. This is not true, although you can do a number of things to either minimize or total eliminate many of your closing costs. Most notably, this effect can be produced by thorough structuring of the real estate contract that you obtain.

When you apply for a loan, the amount may be the purchased price or the appraised value of the house, which ever ends up being less in addition to a VA funding fee. This means that if you would like to have your closing costs to be included in the loan, you need to increase the price. More than this, you must include a stipulation in the agreement, which says that the seller will pay the closing costs and other pre-paid expenses equal to the increased price.

This will eliminate your closing costs. Your appraisal value must also equal the value of the increased price for you to benefit from this arrangement.

How Does The Veterans Benefits Act Of 2004 Affect Me?

How Does The Veterans Benefits Act Of 2004 Affect Me

There have been a number of changes to the legal regulations that underpin the operations and services of the VA as it regards home loans and other program. For many veterans, the provisions of the Veterans Benefits Act bring up many questions about how they may get a loan processing and what sort of entitlements will be available. What is this law and how does it affect you, the borrower?

The Veterans Benefits Act of 2004 was a comprehensive update that made significant changes to the VA loan process. One primary area of changes has to do with the maximum guaranty. While it was once $60,000, the amount has been modified. In the instance of those qualifying loans that are for amount of $144,000 or more, the maximum will be a sum equal to 25% of the Freddie Mac conforming loan limit. This, itself, will be determined by another lending law called the Federal Loan Mortgage Corporation Act.

The Historical Backdrop To VA Fixed-Rate Loans

The Historical Backdrop To VA Fixed-Rate Loans

It was in 1944, that then President Franklin D. Roosevelt established what would later be called the GI Bill. The bill that was signed into office was called the Servicemen's Readjustment Act. The point of the new law was to provide military veterans with the ability to purchase homes without paying the standard required down payment associated with most standard loans.

This was the beginning of the VA loan. At this point, the loan was a fixed-rate loan that gave borrowers the ability to finance their mortgages for various term lengths ranging from 15 through 30 years. These loans had a static rate throughout the course of the loan term, which meant that it never changed.

Today's VA loans are further guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. These modern loans enable veterans to buy single-family homes, build houses, buy homes for the purposes of improvement, as well as buy townhouses or condominiums in a VA approved projects.

What Are VA Business Loans (Part Two): VPOT And Other Info

What Are VA Business Loans (Part Two): VPOT And Other Info

If you are a vet who has acquired a VA business loan to open up your own new venture, you may like the idea of contacting and networking with other veterans as a means to building up or expanding your business enterprises. The Veterans Business Outreach Program, known as VPOT, is a great resource that has been designed for this purpose.

Through the VPOT, you can obtain practical advice from your fellow vets in matters of business. It is way to connect and make professional as well as personal relationship with fellow veterans who understand the sort of life circumstances that have brought you to this place. It is about finding some common ground and enriching your hopes for professional financial success.

Beyond the VPOT, the VA business loan program that is fostered by the SBA provides services not only for disabled vets but also to help those who have quit active service and are in good health but lack valuable training or education that could help them success in new business ventures, etc.

?What Happens To A VA Loan After The Veteran Passes Away?

?What Happens To A VA Loan After The Veteran Passes Away?

The question will come up eventually? What will happen to a home mortgage loan in the event the borrower dies unexpectedly or passes away after a long illness? The question remains the same whether you are talking about traditional types of loans or VA-guaranteed loans.

Unless some sort of mortgage life insurance coverage is obtained by the borrower, the responsibility of the mortgage loan transfers to the spouse of the deceased veteran or to the veteran's immediate family, or even to an estate. After all, the payments still have to be made. Yet, with the VA, there are other resources like its "Leniency Policy" than can be referenced in these circumstances. This policy provides forbearance for qualified borrowers who have encountered financial or medical difficulties.

If you want mortgage life insurance, you will need to obtain coverage from a private insurance company that offers this type of policy since the Veterans Administration does not offer such coverage.

?Lower The Interest On Your Current VA Loan

?Lower The Interest On Your Current VA Loan

If you have already obtained a VA loan there are some options available if you would like to pay less interest with each monthly payment. One of the chief ways it use some form of interest-rate reduction financing. Like applying for VA loans themselves, refinancing in this way is not very complicated. (In fact, you will not be required to re-establish your VA loan eligibility when you attempt to refinance the loan at a lesser interest rate.)

With the technological convenience of the internet, the process of confirming your eligibility has been reduced to the sending of an email. The VA has an "email confirmation procedure" that facilitates the requests of lenders for evidence of continued eligibility.

Veterans may use their status to obtain a subsequent VA loan, under certain conditions, most notably that the previous loan has been paid in full. When you are applying for eligibility you must provide documentation of previous payment of a prior loan. This might include a letter from the bank stating that the debt has indeed been "paid-in-full." Another piece of information that may prove beneficial is a HUD-1 settlement statement.

?Have You Considered The Benefits Of Veteran's Administration Loans

?Have You Considered The Benefits Of Veteran's Administration Loans

There are really a number of excellent benefits associated with VA loans. If you have considered applying for one, you might want to read a few pertinent facts about these specialized loans that are available for more than 30 million military veterans and other armed service personnel.

Certainly, at the top of anyone's list is the fact that VA loans do not typically require that the borrower place a down payment. This is major boon to many vets who do not otherwise have the resources to purchase a home. This benefit is shortly followed by another one: in most cases, those applying for VA loans have to option of negotiating the level of interest rate they will have to pay. The vet will not have to come up extensive amounts for closing costs since limitations are imposed. You do not have to purchase private mortgage insurance or pay the extra premium costs.

These are just some of the serious money-saving benefits of applying for a Veteran's Administration Loan.

?Use Your Remaining Entitlement To Get A Second VA Loan

?Use Your Remaining Entitlement To Get A Second VA Loan

If you have had a VA loan in the past, you might have some "remaining entitlement" which can be used to obtain another VA loan. At the present time, eligible veterans have an amount of entitlement equal to $36,000. This amount has increase gradually over time. Veterans who purchased a home when the entitlement amount was less can use what was left of their entitlement then and add it to the difference based upon the current level. This would allow you to have a adequate entitlement to get VA loan financing. Also, bear in mind that if you want to obtain a loan of $144,000 or more, you can access a maximum amount of entitlement equal to $50,750.

In addition, most lenders will require that a combination of the guaranty entitlement and any cash down payment must equal 25% of the reasonable value or the sales price of the property, whichever may be less.

?Have You Considered Selling Your VA Loan Obtained Home

?Have You Considered Selling Your VA Loan Obtained Home

In some cases, it is better to your house and make back some money on the equity you've built than to keep the property. This is as true of those who have purchased their homes with a VA home loan as it is for those who used an FHA or other type of loan. Yet, there are some definite policy issues you should keep in mind if you intend to sell the property.

First, you need to understand that even if you sell the property you initially purchased using a VA loan you will still be liable for payment on that loan until you notify the proper authorities. The borrower is required to provide notification to either the Veterans Administration or to the lender of the sale. Then a request for a "release from liability" should be placed with the VA and the liability should then be transferred to the new owner.

One exception does exist to this policy. If the loan was closed prior to March 1, 1988, no notification will be needed. Nonetheless, you should still go ahead and get the "release from liability" from the local VA office to serve as evidence of the transfer of ownership.