Did you know qualified borrowers with VA-recognized disabilities may be eligible for special consideration for VA insured mortgages? If you are looking for a VA home loan, it’s important to know the benefits and assistance available to you based on your VA-recognized disability status. The Federally-backed VA loan benefit helps millions of eligible military members and select government employees finance their homes.
Disabled veterans may receive even more VA benefits due to their sacrifice. Vets who receive VA compensation for a service-connected disability, or are entitled to it but are getting retirement or active duty pay instead, are exempt from the VA funding fee. The fee can run from .5 to 3.3 percent. If you’re receiving disability compensation each month, make sure your loan officer knows so that you can get the appropriate exemption.
Veterans discharged due to a service-connected disability can more than likely meet service-length requirements for a VA loan, even if they fall short of the minimum required service days for war or peacetime on active duty. In addition, disabled veterans may qualify for cost-saving waivers or grants to modify their homes to specific needs.
The VA Loan Guaranty Division does more than back home loans made by lenders. It also administers Specially Adapted Housing grants. The money can help certain disabled veterans modify or build homes to best fit their needs. Up to $67,555 can be awarded each fiscal year to a qualifying veteran. And, an individual can receive the grant up to three times. The money can be used for things like wheelchair ramps, specially adapted kitchens and bathrooms and even safer walkways.
If you have a permanent and total service-connected disability you may be eligible.
Here are a few examples of some of the grants that are available:
Providing qualifying applicants with up to 50 percent of the cost of a specially adapted house, the VA 2101(a) Specially Adapted Housing Grant is designed to help a veteran purchase and/or modify a home to make it more accessible.
Another grant program is the Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grant, created for vets eligible for the Specially Adapted Housing section 2101(a) (SAH) or the Special Home Adaptation section 2101(b) (SHA) grant. The TRA Grant is intended to assist an eligible veteran or servicemember adapt a family member’s home to meet the veteran’s or service members special needs. Veterans and service members eligible for a TRA grant may use up to $14,000 of the maximum grant amount for a section 2101(a) SAH grant or up to $2,000 of the maximum amount for a section 2101(b) SHA grant.
VA grants of this nature often feature a list of qualifying disabilities–not all veterans or even all disabled military veterans are eligible for the grants. The veteran may have to apply for eligibility for the program before requesting the grant. VA loan benefits related to disabled veteran status are usually not available until the veteran’s disability has been officially recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs.