LogFAQs > #931250251

VA loans are guaranteed by the federal government. This means there's no down payment and no private mortgage insurance requirement. There are also limits on closing costs and you cannot be charged a penalty for paying off the loan early. You may also be eligible for assistance if you run into trouble making payments.

To be eligible for a VA loan, you must have served at least 90 days active duty during WWII, Korea, or Vietnam, 181 days continuous active duty during peacetime up to 1980 (1981 for officers), or 24 months active duty after 1980, all with other than dishonorable discharge. Your duty requirements may be lower if you were discharged for a service-connected disability. In addition, current active duty personnel are eligible after 90 days of continuous active duty, National Guard and Reserve are eligible after 6 years with honorable discharge, retirement, or transfer to Standby Reserve, or if you are the un-remarried spouse of a Veteran who died in the service, or who was MIA or POW, or the surviving spouse who receives DIC benefits for non service-connected death. Also eligible are officers of the Public Heath Service Commissioned Corps and NOAA Commissioned Corps (both of which are technically uniformed services of the US), WWII merchant seamen, cadets at the US Military, Air Force or Coast Guard Academies, and midshipment at the Naval Academy.

The VA can also provide direct loans to veterans who are members of eligible Native American tribes, and they provide grants for disabled veterans to purchase, construct, or modify a home to accommodate a disability.

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Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum,
Minutus carborata descendum pantorum.