How to Get a VA Home Loan: Eligibility, Lender, and Funding Fee

To get a VA home loan, confirm your military service meets the VA’s length-of-service rules, request a Certificate of Eligibility, apply with a VA-approved lender who will check your credit and income, and purchase a primary residence that passes a VA appraisal. The benefit is available to eligible veterans, active-duty service members, qualifying National Guard and Reserve members, and certain surviving spouses. The steps below walk through each stage in the order you’ll actually encounter it.

Confirm You Meet the Service Requirements

Eligibility depends on when you served, how long, and how you separated. Veterans who served at least 90 days of active duty during World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam era, or the Persian Gulf War qualify, provided their discharge was not dishonorable.¹ The Persian Gulf War period, which began August 2, 1990, is still open for VA purposes, so most post-1990 veterans fall under the 90-day rule.

Peacetime service carries a higher threshold. Service after July 25, 1947 outside a wartime window requires more than 180 days of continuous active duty.¹ For service beginning on or after September 8, 1980, the requirement is 24 continuous months, or the full period for which you were called to active duty (at least 181 days).² A discharge for a service-connected disability can waive these minimums regardless of time served.

National Guard and Reserve Members

Guard and Reserve members generally qualify after six creditable years in the Selected Reserve or National Guard, followed by an honorable discharge, transfer to the retired list, or continued service.² If you were activated under Title 10 for 90 or more days during a wartime period, you qualify through the active-duty path. Title 32 activations also count if you served at least 90 days with at least 30 of those days consecutive.³

Surviving Spouses

You may qualify as a surviving spouse if your spouse died in service or from a service-connected disability and you have not remarried, or if you remarried after age 57 and after December 16, 2003. Spouses of veterans who were prisoners of war, missing in action, or who died after being rated totally disabled may also be eligible.⁴

Request Your Certificate of Eligibility

The Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is the document that proves to a lender you’ve earned the benefit. Most VA-approved lenders can pull it electronically through the VA’s Web LGY system, often within minutes.⁵ Ask your lender to try this first; if the system has enough of your service data on file, you won’t have to submit anything.

If the automated lookup doesn’t work, apply online at VA.gov or mail VA Form 26-1880.⁶ The form asks for your personal information, a chronological history of your military service with entry and release dates, and any previous VA loan details.

Supporting documents depend on your status:

Veterans: DD Form 214 showing dates of service, character of discharge, and reason for separation.
Active-duty members: a current statement of service signed by your commander or personnel officer, including your name, Social Security number, date of birth, and total time served.
National Guard members: NGB Form 22 (Report of Separation and Record of Service) or NGB Form 23 (Retirement Points Accounting).⁷
Reserve members: your latest annual retirement points statement and evidence of honorable service.⁷

Getting the COE in hand before you shop clarifies your entitlement and speeds up everything that follows.

Apply With a VA-Approved Lender

You don’t borrow from the VA. You borrow from a private lender, and the VA guarantees a portion of the loan. Your lender will pull credit, verify income, and run the file through underwriting using the VA’s rules.

The VA sets no minimum credit score. Individual lenders do, and most land somewhere between 580 and 620. If one lender turns you down, another may approve you, because lender overlays vary. It’s worth shopping.

The VA uses a 41 percent debt-to-income ratio as a guideline rather than a hard cutoff. An underwriter can approve a loan above 41 percent when compensating factors exist, such as tax-free income or residual income that exceeds the VA minimum by at least 20 percent.

Residual income is the piece many borrowers don’t expect. After subtracting your mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, and every other monthly obligation, the VA wants to see that your household has enough left each month for food, transportation, clothing, and other basics. The required amount varies by region and family size, and your lender will calculate it as part of underwriting.

Choose a Home That Meets VA Property Rules

Every home purchased with a VA loan must pass a VA appraisal confirming it meets Minimum Property Requirements (MPRs).⁸ A VA-assigned appraiser inspects the home for structural soundness, working heating, functional electrical and plumbing, adequate roofing, and safe drinking water. Lead-based paint hazards, pest damage, and dry rot must be resolved before closing.⁹ The home also needs adequate living, sleeping, and cooking areas.

The VA appraisal is not a home inspection. The appraiser checks for obvious deficiencies affecting safety and value but won’t crawl the attic or test every outlet. Hire an independent inspector for that.

What You Can Buy

VA loans cover single-family houses, condos in a VA-approved complex, manufactured homes, and multi-unit properties of up to four units. If you buy a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, you must live in one unit as your primary residence. Lenders may count a portion of projected rental income from the other units, usually discounted for vacancies.

The primary-residence rule applies to every VA purchase. You’re generally expected to move in within 60 days of closing, with exceptions for deployed service members and other unusual circumstances. VA loans are not a path to buying a pure investment property or a second home.

Plan for the VA Funding Fee

The funding fee is a one-time charge that keeps the program running. It’s typically rolled into your loan balance, so you don’t pay it out of pocket, but it does add to what you borrow. The amount depends on whether this is your first VA loan and how much you put down:¹⁰

First use, less than 5% down: 2.15% of the loan amount
First use, 5% or more down: 1.5%
First use, 10% or more down: 1.25%
Subsequent use, less than 5% down: 3.3%
Subsequent use, 5% or more down: 1.5%
Subsequent use, 10% or more down: 1.25%

On a $350,000 home with no down payment on first use, the funding fee is $7,525.

Several groups are fully exempt:¹¹

Veterans receiving VA disability compensation for any service-connected disability rating.
Active-duty Purple Heart recipients who provide evidence of the award on or before closing.¹⁰
Surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from a service-connected death.
Service members with a proposed or memorandum disability rating issued before closing.

If your disability rating is pending, ask your VA regional office about the timeline. Having that rating before closing can save thousands.

Close the Loan

Once you have a signed purchase agreement, your lender submits the file for underwriting and requests a VA appraisal through the VA’s online portal. Appraisal fees for single-family homes typically run $400 to $1,500 depending on location and complexity.

Every VA purchase contract must include a federally required escape clause. It protects you from being forced to complete the purchase if the appraised value comes in below the contract price.¹² If the appraisal is low, you can walk away without losing earnest money, negotiate a lower price, or bring cash to cover the gap.

At closing, you’ll sign the promissory note and the deed of trust. The settlement agent distributes funds, records the mortgage, and handles the transfer of title. Application to closing typically takes 30 to 45 days, though appraisal delays or required repairs can stretch that out. Sellers are allowed to contribute up to 4 percent of the sale price toward your closing costs on top of their own customary costs, which can substantially reduce what you bring to the table.

Using the Benefit More Than Once

The VA loan benefit is not a one-time deal. If you’ve sold a previous home and paid off the VA loan in full, you can apply to restore your entitlement and use it again without restriction.² A one-time restoration is also available if you’ve paid off the loan but still own the home. Another eligible veteran can sometimes assume your existing VA loan and substitute their entitlement for yours, freeing up your benefit for a new purchase.

Veterans with full entitlement face no VA-imposed loan limit. If you have partial entitlement remaining from a previous loan that hasn’t been restored, the 2026 conforming loan limit of $832,750 factors into how much the VA will guarantee, with higher figures in high-cost counties.¹³ Your lender can calculate the guaranty available to you based on any previously used entitlement.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 38 USC 3702 – Basic Entitlement
2
Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for VA Home Loan Programs
3
Department of Veterans Affairs. National Guard and Reserve – Your Benefits: Active Guard Reserve
4
Veterans Affairs. Home Loans for Surviving Spouses
5
Veterans Affairs. How to Request a VA Home Loan Certificate of Eligibility
6
Veterans Affairs. About VA Form 26-1880
7
United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Eligibility Frequently Asked Questions – VA Home Loans
8
Department of Veterans Affairs. VA Pamphlet VAP26-7 Chapter 12 Minimum Property Requirement Overview
9
Federal Register. Loan Guaranty: Minimum Property Requirements for VA-Guaranteed and Direct Loans
10
Veterans Affairs. VA Funding Fee and Loan Closing Costs
11
Veterans Benefits Administration. VA Funding Fee Exemption and Refund Procedures for Lenders
12
Veterans Benefits Administration. Escape Clause
13
FHFA. FHFA Announces Conforming Loan Limit Values for 2026