3 Things You Need To Know About Getting A VA Loan
Home ownership is still the dream of many Americans. However, in today's economic climate, it is not a dream that many get to realize. For those who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, they can get help in attaining a home mortgage through a VA loan. Here are three things you need to know about getting a VA loan.
1. There are service requirements before you will be eligible to apply for the loan.
Before you can be eligible to apply for a VA loan, you must have served a specific amount of time on active duty in the military. For those who actually served during a war, you must have served at least 90 days on duty and not been dishonorably discharged. If you served less than 90 days and suffered an injury that led to you being disabled and unable to continue serving, you could still be eligible for the loan.
If you served on active duty in the military during times of peace, you need to have served at least 181 consecutive days and not been dishonorably discharged. You can also qualify if you didn't get to serve 181 days because of a service-related injury leading to an honorable discharge from service.
Also, if you have served six years in the reserves or National Guard, you can be eligible to apply for a VA loan as long as you are either retired or honorably discharged.
2. Spouses can be eligible for the VA loan.
It used to be that a surviving spouse of someone in the military could only be eligible for the VA loan if their loved one was killed while on active duty. However, that is no longer the case.
Now, as long as the veteran was declared disabled before their death, their surviving spouse will be eligible to apply for the VA loan. It doesn't matter if their disability was the result of being on duty or if their disability caused their death, as long as they were either:
- Totally disabled for 10 years before their death
- Totally disabled for at least five years following their military discharge
- Totally disabled for at least a year before death if they were a POW who died after September 30, 1999
The only other stipulation is the surviving spouse must not have remarried after their spouse passed away.
3. There are credit score requirements for the VA loan.
While the VA loan is meant to make it easier for veterans to get home loans, it isn't a guarantee that you will be approved for it. The VA loan is not given out by the VA itself, but given out by private lenders.
Each lender will have its own requirements for what the applicant's credit score needs to be. Most of them require a credit score of at least 620 before they will approve the VA loan. However, it is possible to get the VA loan with a lower credit score, such as 570.
So, you don't necessarily need perfect credit, but you will need to have relatively good credit in order to have your VA loan application approved by your lender.