VA Home Loan Requirements
Requirements for a VA Mortgage loan fall into three categories: 1) Eligibility 2) Income and 3) Credit
Eligibility
Most Veterans or active duty military service members need to will have served according to the requirement below:
- 181 Days of Peacetime Active Duty Service
- 91 Days of Wartime Active Duty Service
- 6 Years of Reserves or National Guard Service
Surviving spouses of service members who died in service or as a result of service-connected injuries may also be eligible for a VA Home Loan.
A VA Loan Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is required to obtain a VA Loan. As an approved VA lender we have access to the Veteran Affairs automated system and can obtain your COE for you when you apply for a VA Mortgage with us.
Income
Income qualifications for VA Loans are primarily evaluated using a residual income calculation. This formula determines if a Veteran has enough income to pay for living expenses along with their mortgage, housing expenses, taxes and other debts such as credit cards or auto loans.
Credit
The Veterans Affairs loan guidelines do not have a minimum credit score requirement. Like most lenders we do have a minimum credit score requirement, however, our minimum credit score for a VA Loan is 550 . If your credit score is close but just below where it needs to be, we can provide analysis and suggestions that could raise your credit score, sometimes fairly quickly.
Bankruptcy does not necessarily disqualify you from being able to get a VA Loan. If you have had a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy it must have been 12 months since the bankruptcy has been discharged. With a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, 24 months need to have passed since it was discharged. Your credit history since the discharge date must be acceptable as well.
To get started on your VA Home Loan, call us at 561-810-1711 or fill out the short form on this page. A specialist from our team will contact and assist you with your VA Mortgage pre-qualification.
