VA Loans
One hundred percent, further than they told you.
The VA benefit is bigger than the folklore around it. On this shelf it finances one hundred percent of a home well past two million dollars, carries no monthly mortgage insurance at any leverage, and underwrites the way the program intended — by asking what a household actually has left each month, not just what a ratio says.
Who this is built for
Veterans, active duty, and certain surviving spouses
The Certificate of Eligibility decides — and pulling it takes minutes, not weeks. If you are not sure you qualify, that is a five-minute question, not a research project.
Buyers told their score disqualifies them
The ladder starts at 580 with full 100% financing to a million dollars. A manual path opens at 600. The benefit was built for people coming home, not for perfect credit files.
Veterans buying in expensive markets
This is where folklore costs real money: 100% financing runs to $1.5 million at a 640 score, and a 100% rung exists at two and a half million. The benefit did not stop at the county line.
Anyone already holding a VA loan
The IRRRL exists for exactly you — a rate-and-term refinance so streamlined that on serviced loans there is no minimum score, no ratio test, and no new appraisal-driven cap at all.
Not sure whether your entitlement covers what you are planning? That is the normal starting point — ten minutes on a call sorts it faster than a week of reading.
Talk it throughThe benefit reaches further than they told you
One hundred percent financing — and no monthly mortgage insurance at any level of it.
No program is surrounded by more well-meaning misinformation than VA. Three corrections, from the current matrix:
And the quiet one: because there is no monthly mortgage insurance, a VA payment routinely beats a conventional payment at the same price point even when the sticker rate looks similar. The comparison belongs on paper, side by side — it is the five minutes most likely to change a veteran’s mind about renting.
| “It stops at the county limit” | 100% keeps going | Full financing runs to $1 million at 580, $1.5 million at 640 — and a 100% rung exists at $2.5 million for the strongest files. Above-limit VA is routine here, not exotic. |
| “You only get to use it once” | Entitlement is reusable | It restores when a VA loan pays off, and can even split across two homes in some situations. Veterans on their third VA loan are not rare; they are informed. |
| “It needs great credit” | The floor is 580 | With automated approval, 580 keeps full financing to a million dollars. Manual underwriting opens at 600, and nontraditional credit follows the manual path. The benefit meets people where they are. |
Program parameters reflect one program’s current matrices and change without notice. Funding-fee amounts and exemptions are set by the VA and depend on individual entitlement. Not all applicants will qualify.
How it actually works
A guarantee instead of an insurance bill — and an underwrite with a human premise.
The VA guarantees the lender
That guarantee replaces the monthly mortgage insurance every other high-leverage program charges. At any rung on this page, there is no monthly MI. None.
One funding fee, usually financed
A one-time fee rolls into the loan for most borrowers — and veterans with certain service-connected disability ratings are exempt from it entirely. The exact figure depends on your entitlement history and belongs in a written quote.
Residual income does the real underwriting
VA asks what is left after the bills — by family size, by region. Ratios above 41% pass routinely when residual income runs past 120% of the requirement. It is the most humane underwriting standard in the industry, and it approves real families other programs decline.
The property gets VA eyes
A VA-assigned appraisal against minimum property requirements. Protection for you, timeline for the contract — both true, both planned for.
The ladders, as published
Pick the transaction — each ladder is quoted from its own published matrix:
One program’s current VA purchase matrix — 100% financing, with the score setting how far it reaches:
| Loan size | Maximum financing | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| To $832,750 | 100% | Credit score 720 and up — ratios simply per the AUS findings |
| To $1 million | 100% | From a 580 score at up to 55% DTI; 660 stretches the ratio to 60% |
| To $1.5 million | 100% | From a 640 score at up to 55% DTI |
| To $2 million | 95% | From 660, ratios to 60% |
| To $2.5 million | 100% or 95% | 700 score: 100% at a 45% ratio, or 95% with the ratio relaxed to 55% |
Read the second row the way it deserves: a 580 credit score, one hundred percent financing, a million dollars. No other program on this site prints that sentence. The manual-underwrite path holds 100% to the baseline band from a 600 score, and one measurement quirk is worth knowing before comparing programs: on a purchase, these ratios exclude the financed funding fee — some lenders quote it the other way, which quietly shifts the numbers. Ratios above 41% clear routinely when residual income exceeds 120% of the VA requirement — the standard built into every row above.
Representative of one program’s VA purchase matrix, published 06/25/2026. Purchase LTV/CLTV excludes the financed VA funding fee. Loan-size bands, credit minimums and ratio ceilings are separate limits shown only in combinations that appear together in the source. Eligibility requires a valid Certificate of Eligibility; the VA guarantees loans and does not approve individual borrowers. Not all applicants will qualify.
The same program publishes the full VA refinance set. The last row is the one that sounds made up:
| Door | Maximum financing | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Cash-out, Type I | To 100% | The ladder mirrors purchase: 580 to $1M, rungs to $2.5M at 700 |
| Cash-out, Type II | To 100% | Same reach, one stricter overlay: spotless housing history for the last twelve months |
| IRRRL, credit-qualifying | 105/125 CLTV | From 580 at the baseline band; the ladder climbs to $2.5M at 700 |
| IRRRL, non-credit-qualifying | 105/125 CLTV — no ratio test | From 580 by loan size; existing VA loan, demonstrated benefit, twelve clean payments |
| IRRRL on serviced loans | No score. No ratio. No LTV test. | On loans already serviced in-house, the payment history is the entire file |
That last row is not a typo — on an in-house serviced VA loan, the streamline runs with no minimum credit score, no debt-ratio test and no appraisal-driven cap, because twelve months of payments already proved the only thing underwriting exists to predict. Even off-portfolio, the IRRRL can value the home from the original loan amount, an exterior-only appraisal or an approved automated valuation — no interior appraisal, no appraisal gap drama. Two honesty notes from the overlays: refinance ratios include the financed funding fee (the mirror image of the purchase quirk), and Type II cash-out wants twelve months of spotless mortgage history where Type I tolerates a single late.
Representative of the same program’s VA refinance matrices, published 06/25/2026. IRRRL transactions require an existing VA-insured loan and a demonstrated net tangible benefit; non-credit-qualifying terms shown for serviced loans apply to that program’s portfolio. Refinance LTV/CLTV includes the financed VA funding fee. CLTV figures include eligible subordinate financing. Not all applicants will qualify.
A second program publishes its own VA purchase grid. Where they agree, plan with confidence; where they diverge, the file picks the lender:
| Loan size | Maximum financing | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| To $1 million | 100% | From 580 — the same floor, independently confirmed |
| To $1.5 million | 100% | From 680 here; the first ladder reaches this band at 640 |
| To $2 million | 100% | From 700 — where the first ladder steps to 95% |
| To $2.5 million | 90% | At 720; the first ladder holds a 100% rung here at a 45% ratio |
This is what shopping the benefit actually looks like. Both programs print 100% to a million at 580 — that floor is real everywhere on this shelf. Above it they trade wins: a 640 borrower at $1.4 million belongs on the first ladder; a 700 borrower at $1.9 million gets full financing on the second where the first would ask for equity. Cash-out tells the same story — one hundred percent to $2 million at this program from the low 600s by size. Neither grid dominates, which is precisely why a veteran with one bank quote is usually holding the wrong number.
Representative of a second program’s VA product profile dated 02/09/2026, shown separately because figures from two programs never combine. Purchase LTV excludes, and cash-out LTV includes, any financed funding fee, per that source. Loan-size bands, credit minimums and ratio requirements are separate limits shown only in combinations that appear together. Not all applicants will qualify.
Bankruptcy or foreclosure since your service? The clocks live here →
The overlays that decide VA files
What you actually hand over
The Certificate of Eligibility
Pulled electronically in minutes in most cases. If your service record is complicated, that is my paperwork to chase, not yours.
Income and credit, the normal way
Full documentation, W-2 or otherwise. Nontraditional credit follows the manual path — thin files are handled, not rejected.
Almost nothing at closing, structured right
With 100% financing and a financed fee, the cash conversation is about escrows and prepaids — and seller concessions can carry those. The structure is the skill.
For the IRRRL: your statement
An existing VA loan, twelve months of history, and a benefit we can demonstrate on paper. It is the shortest document stack in this industry.
Want the exact list for your file before you ever apply? Build your document checklist — the list changes with your answers, printable and yours to keep.
Where it wins — and the honest trade-offs
Told straight, because this page is useless otherwise.
At any level of financing. That single absence is why a VA payment routinely beats a conventional payment at the same price, even when the sticker rate looks similar.
One hundred percent keeps going into high-balance territory on this shelf — above-limit VA is routine here, not exotic.
It restores when a VA loan is paid off, and in some situations it splits across two homes. A third VA loan is not unusual; it is just informed.
A 580 file reaches full financing with an automated approval, and thin credit follows the manual path rather than a rejection. If service was followed by a rough chapter, the clocks live here.
Financed or not, it is a cost — unless a service-connected disability rating exempts you, which it does for many. The exemption check is step one of every VA conversation I have.
A separate list from FHA’s, and in this market it filters real buildings. The condo pages on this site exist for exactly the towers that fail these lists.
Peeling paint, dead systems, safety items — VA appraisals flag what conventional ones forgive. The fixer with real issues may need a different structure first.
VA is an owner-occupancy benefit. The investor pages on this site do investor work; this program finances the home you live in — including up to four units of it, if you occupy one.
Five minutes against the folklore
Pull the Certificate of Eligibility, run the prequalification, and see the VA file next to a conventional one — funding fee, no-MI payment and all — before anyone talks you out of the benefit you earned. If conventional genuinely wins, you will see that on paper too.
Questions people actually ask
Open the full Q&A — entitlement, the funding fee, and the fine points ▾
+Is the 580 floor real, at one hundred percent?
Yes — to a million dollars with an automated approval, at ratios to 55%. Below 580 this matrix does not go; at 600 a manual path opens to the baseline band. The overlays many banks add on top of VA are theirs, not the program’s — shopping them is the job.
+Can a surviving spouse use the benefit?
Certain surviving spouses, yes — typically the unremarried spouse of a service member who died in service or from a service-connected cause, among other cases. The Certificate of Eligibility is the arbiter, and requesting the determination costs nothing.
+I used my VA loan years ago. Is it gone?
Almost certainly not. Entitlement restores when the prior loan is paid off, and partial entitlement can support a second purchase sooner than people assume. Bring the old loan details and the answer takes a day, not a mystery.
+How big can a VA loan actually get?
On this matrix: one hundred percent financing to $1.5 million at a 640 score, and a 100% rung at $2.5 million at 700 with a 45% ratio. Above those bands, the jumbo page takes over. The county-limit story stopped being the whole truth years ago.
+What makes the IRRRL special?
It refinances an existing VA loan with no income documentation in most cases, valuation options that skip the interior appraisal, and — on loans serviced in-house — no minimum score, no ratio test and no LTV cap. The requirement that matters: the new loan must demonstrably benefit you. That math goes on paper before anything is signed.
+I had a bankruptcy since my service. Does VA still work?
VA’s clocks are among the friendliest in lending, and residual-income underwriting reads recovery better than any ratio does — but the honest answer depends on your dates and what has rebuilt since. The after-a-credit-event page maps how clocks work; bring the discharge date and I will map yours.
Schedule a Consultation
Loan programs, explained honestly
VA-guaranteed loans are offered through third-party lenders, are subject to lender approval and full underwriting, and change without notice. Figures reflect one program’s matrices published 06/25/2026, cited beside the tables they support. Eligibility requires a valid Certificate of Eligibility; the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs guarantees loans and does not approve individual borrowers. The VA funding fee is set by the VA, varies with entitlement use and down payment, may be financed, and is waived only for categories the VA defines. Purchase LTV/CLTV excludes, and refinance LTV/CLTV includes, any financed funding fee, per the source matrices. Loan-size bands, credit minimums and ratio ceilings are separate limits shown only in combinations that appear together in the sources. Not all applicants or properties will qualify. This is not a commitment to lend. Equal Housing Opportunity.