Active Duty

• Active duty personnel are eligible to use of the VA home loan benefit. The service members may use this home loan guarantee to purchase a home or refinance an existing home even while they're on active duty. VA does not require a service member to exit the service or retire prior to extending this benefit.
  
  

Purchasing a Home

• Many veterans and active duty personnel use their benefit to purchase a home. VA does not require the veteran previously own a home to qualify for the VA loan program. Many first time home buyers use this program to purchase a home since it does not require a down payment from the veteran or service member. VA requires that the veteran pay a funding fee at the close of the VA loan, but they may finance this funding fee in addition to financing 100 percent of the purchase price. Veterans may also use this benefit to finance some energy efficient improvements to the home.
  
  

Refinancing a Home

• The VA offers refinance programs to veterans and service members as well. They may refinance their mortgage and either change the terms of their mortgage or lower their interest rate and their payments. VA also offers a cash-out refinance program, which allows the veteran to access the equity in the home. Veterans who currently have a VA loan can use the VA's Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, or IRRRL, to refinance their mortgage without requiring an appraisal or proof of income. Veterans can only use this program if the new loan amount does not exceed the existing loan's maximum balance.
  
  

Multiple VA Loans

• VA allows veterans to borrow up to $417,000 to purchase or refinance a home. Typically, VA only wants to provide one loan at a time to veterans. However, if two veterans purchase a home together and each uses half of their benefit, they could purchase another home and use the other half of their benefit on the new home. This would give the two veterans two joint VA loans. To obtain a third VA loan, one of the two VA loans would likely have to be refinanced or paid off before qualifying for a new loan.