Remember the VA funding fee reductions I told you about in a previous post? They were supposed to go into effect in October, but the VA moved the date to November 18th.  Well, it turns out the Congress and the VA are not on the same page.  They have since pulled the changes completely and said to all of us VA lenders and veterans, never mind, we’re just going to stick with the same funding fees we’ve had for years.  Bottom line, forget about all those changes ...

The DD Form 214, officially DD Form 214 “Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty”, but generally referred to as a “DD 214″, is a document of the United States Department of Defense, issued upon a military service member’s retirement, separation or discharge from active-duty military. Most veterans applying for a VA loan will need this form in order to document their military service and type of discharge. This is especially important for the Texas Vet program so that we can verify the veteran’s Home of Record. If you do not have your discharge papers, call us ...

VA-approved lenders were informed today that the funding fee changes that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said would be effective October 1st, 2011, will now be postponed until November 17th, 2011.  Between now and then, the old VA funding fee rates will continue to be used.  First time use will continue at 2.15% and subsequent use at 3.30%.   Anyone closing and funding on their loan before November 17th will be at the current (higher) rates, not the new (lower) rates coming in November.  For more details on the ...

The VA funding fee is the fee charged by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to defray the costs of managing the VA Home Loan Program. The fee ranges from 0% to 2.80% and the vast majority of the time it is well worth paying it since it essentially replaces mortgage insurance which can cost much more on other loan programs.For non-exempt veterans using the VA program for the first time, the fee is 1.40% and then 2.80% every time thereafter. However, a veteran can put down just 5% to reduce the VA funding fee to ...

Great news! We’ve had the same VA funding fees for many years, but that will change November 17th, 2011.  (Was originally October 1, 2011, but there was a delay). The VA has decided to lower the funding fee charged on VA loans. Here is a downloadable PDF ”Old vs. New” Summary of the changes from the highest rate to the lowest:

The VA announced today that it will start including information about a veteran’s exempt status on the VA Certificate of Eligibility (COE). Currently, your lender (us) has to send faxes to multiple VA offices to verify that a veteran is exempt from the VA funding fee. With this new revision by the VA, that will no longer be necessary. Call us if you would like us to obtain your VA Certificate to verify you are eligible for the VA Home Loan Program.