VArefiCenter.com Frequently Asked Questions

A: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was established on March 15, 1989, succeeding the Veterans Administration. It is responsible for providing federal benefits to veterans and their families. Headed by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA is the second largest of the 15 Cabinet departments and operates nationwide programs for health care, financial assistance and burial benefits.

Of the 24 million veterans currently alive, nearly three-quarters served during a war or an official period of conflict. About a quarter of the nation's population, approximately 74.5 million people, are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members or survivors of veterans.

The responsibility to care for veterans, spouses, survivors and dependents can last a long time. Three children of Civil War veterans still draw VA benefits. About 232 children and widows of Spanish-American War veterans still receive VA compensation or pensions.

VA's fiscal year 2007 spending is projected to be over $80 billion, including $34.9 billion for health care, $41.5 billion for benefits, and $160.7 million for the national cemetery system. President Bush sought $87 billion in the fiscal year 2008 budget for VA, a 77 percent increase during his presidency.

- Excerpted from VA Website VA.gov

A: Absolutely. Whether you plan to start a family while serving, or you will separate from active duty soon, securing your military home loan now is one of the smartest steps you can take towards a brighter future. One of the most serious factors to consider when applying for military loans with the VA is that most lending institutions require that you have at least 2 years of reliable employment history to grant you a military loan on your home. So, if you've been in the service longer than 2 years, your employment with the Department of Defence satisfies this military loan requirement. HOWEVER, if you were to separate from active service before applying for your military loan, your employment history would reset and you would have to wait an additional 2 years of time at the same civilian job before you could purchase a home. So don't wait! If you know where you're going to be looking for a home, take some leave time, do your house hunting and get your military loan now!

A: The IRRRL, or Interest Rate Reduction Refinancing Loan, sometimes goes by the names "Streamline Refinance," or "VA Streamline." What's incredible about this new loan refinance program is that it was introduced by the VA expressly to keep veterans in better mortgages. An IRRRL is also available to ANY veteran with a current VA mortgage Loan. What makes the IRRRL loan so impressive is that when you've responsibly made your monthly home mortgage payments and haven't had more than 2 reported 30-day late payments on your mortgage in the last year, you can very likely use a VA IRRRL to LOWER YOUR INTEREST RATE without needing to re-qualify!

IRRRL Mortgages are often used by veteran homeowners that want to refinance into a fixed rate from their Adjustable Rate Mortgage or Variable Mortgage before it adjusts, and by veterans who see an opportunity to lower the interest payment on their fixed rate mortgage by getting an IRRRL.

A few of the amazing and exciting benefits of the VA IRRRL Refinance Program are:

• No Appraisal needed
• No income or employment verification
• No asset verification
• Credit score doesn't matter
• Possibly skip 2 mortgage payments
• Get a cash refund of any escrow balance with current lender
• Get up to $500 cash at closing
• No out of pocket costs!

>>>TO SEE CURRENT VA MORTGAGE RATES, SIMPLY FILL OUT OUR 30 SECOND VA MORTGAGE RATE REQUEST FORM AND YOU'LL RECEIVE AN ACCURATE VA MORTGAGE RATE QUOTE INSTANTLY!

A: NO. Governement loans are NOT loans from the government, and they are NOT gifts. They are loans granted by individual lending institutions to a borrower based on the guarantee or endorsement of a government loans department such as the VA (Department of Veterans' Affairs) or FHA (Federal Housing Administration). Depending on the eligible benefit, the government only guarantees a certain amount of the government loan against default. This creates incentive for lending institutions to provide highly competitive rates and terms on government loans.

A: A COE, or Certificate of Eligibility is a form generated by the VA based upon your time in service. Your COE simply shows what home loan benefits you are entitled to as a veteran, and verifies the amount of your entitlement. to get your COE, simply apply online for your COE, or contact the VA directly.

A: YES! We have been a leader in the mortgage industry since our inception in 1985, and are currently ranked the fifth largest mortgage broker company in the nation by Mortgage Banking Magazine. The VA Refi Center is owned by US Veterans so we understand and cater to your unique needs. Our experience and volume gives us the opportunity to negotiate the absolute best terms for your loan with the most competitive banks and lenders in the country. We Specialize in VA Loans which means you are far less likely to experience delays or problems in the processing of your loan. Last year alone we processed over 10,000 VA Loan Applications and funded over 5 Billion Dollars of VA Loans. We are directly approved as a VA lender by the U.S. Veterans Administration and are regulated by the Federal Government.

A: We guarantee that we can get you the best rate on your VA Loan! If you submit a full application and we can’t get you the best rate, we will pay you $50.00 with no further obligation to us! *In order to qualify for the $50.00 guarantee payment, you must have submitted a completed loan application with all necessary supporting documentation (income verification, etc) to us and provide us a with a legible copy of the Good Faith Estimate and Truth in Lending Statement (these two documents must show the same date as the date of your application) from the company that has beaten our rate. If after reviewing the other companies offer we can’t beat their rate, we will mail you $50.00! So rest assured that with the VARefiCenter, you don’t have to worry about the deal you are getting.

A: YES!! If you have any questions about the rate, fees, or terms of your loan, please call your VA Loan Specialist. He/she will be happy to explain and or adjust any of the terms of the loan to ensure that the loan is structured in a manner that meets your needs. So don’t hesitate to call if you have questions or concerns about what you are seeing or if you have changed your mind about something. Also, your full application consists of just preliminary documents, so if you see an error, feel free to cross it out and replace any incorrect information. Just initial by what you have changed and we will make that change in our system when we receive your application.

A: YES! 1st make sure that you return your complete loan application within 24 hours of receipt. This will give you a far greater chance of locking in a desirable rate as rates change daily. 2nd make sure to provide all of the documentation that your VA Loan Specialist asks for as quickly as possible. Our VA Specialists are experts at reducing the amount of paperwork, document gathering, etc that veterans have to go through. So they won't ask you for something unless they really need it.

A: Processing is the part of the loan process that most people don’t understand very well because they have never truly been told everything that it encompasses. In order for you’re your VA loan to close there are a lot of things that must be done. Here is an overview of what happens:

Once we receive your copies of documentation shown on the Loan Checklist and your Completed Application, our full time processing staff will go straight to work on your loan. The first step is to pull you credit and find the best possible loan terms and pricing for your situation. Remember, your rate is not locked in or guaranteed until we receive your completed application with all supporting documentation.

After receiving your loan application and reviewing your situation we will let you know if your situation requires different terms than what was originally talked about. Once you have given us the go ahead on the best loan program that we can offer you based on your specific loan profile, we will order all necessary verifications including if applicable an appraisal for your home, Title and Escrow work, insurance, tax, income, and other verifications. We would like to get this accomplished as soon as possible, because generally the appraisal can slow the loan process down significantly. This process of gathering all of the initial documentation, verifications and putting all the numbers together usually takes about 10 days but could take longer based on current volume.

Once we receive all of the necessary verifications, etc, we will submit your loan to the underwriting process, which generally takes between 5-30 business days based on the volume of submissions at the lender that we are submitting your loan to. During this time we will update you as to when we think the file will come out of underwriting. The time that it takes to underwrite the file is unfortunately out of our control and is simply based on how busy the particular lender is that will be funding your loan. We will however, let you know when they are telling us it should come out of underwriting.

When your loan comes out of underwriting we will receive what is called a “Conditional Approval” from the lender. This means that your file has been approved as long as we can satisfy the conditions that the underwriter asks for. While we try to anticipate what these conditions will be on every file and gather them upfront, every single loan is different. That being said, it is almost certain that we will need to ask you for a few things when the loan comes out of underwriting. The faster that you can get these items back to us the better.

Once we have received the final approval from the lender, we will schedule the closing with the title company or attorney that is assigned to your loan. After your loan closes you will have 3 days of rescission where you can choose to withdraw from the loan. Once those days are up your loan will fund and the process will be complete. Congratulations!

Please Note - Your rate will be locked during this entire process to ensure that we will be able to give you the rate that we had offered at the beginning of this process. We hate surprises at closing as much as you do so we make sure that your rate is locked in. The rate is usually locked for a period of 45 days. Should the loan process take longer than the period the rate is locked for, additional Lock Extension fees may apply.

A: Yes! During this loan process it is very important that you continue to make your monthly house payment (as well as all other credit related obligations) to your current mortgage company on time. If you do not make your payment, it is possible that it will hurt your credit enough to affect the outcome of your loan.

A: While the Veterans Administration does not require lenders to verify credit scores, the recent credit crisis has caused most lenders to add additional requirements above and beyond what the VA requires in order to reduce their default rates. Currently most lenders require a minimum 620 credit score for a VA Loan.

A: It varies depending on a number of external factors (i.e. current loan volume, industry conditions, complexity or nuances to your particular loan, etc.) however, you can generally plan on the process currently taking about 5 weeks from start to finish.