How To Tell if You Actually Have VA Eligibility When Lender Said No

I want to talk about a story that came up just recently that unfortunately repeats itself over and over. And that is a VA buyer buying using their VA eligibility, their VA loan, but being told that they don't have any eligibility left. Hey guys, Jim Duffy with Alcova mortgage. And welcome back to the expert network.

And this happens in one of two cases primarily. So what we do is we get the certificate of eligibility for an either active duty or a veteran, right. We get your DD 214, and that allows us to go get the certificate of eligibility.

So many times we look at it and at a glance, it says the veteran's eligibility is zero. And that's for one of two reasons: either you already have a home with a VA loan on it, and so it shows either a fair reduced eligibility or no eligibility; or because the veteran has had some issue in the past with a VA loan, right? Either was a short sale, or a foreclosure, or something?

We have one right now that we're about to close next week. And this couple came to us and said, we want to use our VA eligibility. We're under contract, but another lender told us because of our certificate of eligibility showing zero eligibility, we can't use the VA loan. So what I mean by the certificate of eligibility and lenders, sometimes looking at it at a glance, if you have full eligibility, most lenders know how to recognize that at a glance and say, move on.

What they don't know how to do is actually do the calculation. It's a fairly complicated calculation. We have a spreadsheet that we do it in processing, and we can do it for you in a matter of minutes. If you looked at the spreadsheet, I'm telling you your eyes would glaze over and go, what do I do?

It takes a lender who's familiar with it, familiar with calculating how much eligibility you still have left. And then it's a matter of minutes and we can calculate that for you. And I get it. That's probably why some of the lenders sitting in a cubicle in a big box lender that advertises everywhere looks at that and says, yeah, I think you'd have nothing left because it's a little bit complicated and it takes some degree of expertise and learning, but we get that.

We can do that for you, don't worry. It looks complicated at a glance. If we know what we're doing and we do, we can figure your eligibility very, very quickly for you based on that. In this case, this particular couple had a foreclosure or deed in lieu, and it shows zero eligibility, not the case.

In fact, they qualified for a hundred percent financing on this home they had under contract. And again, they're approved in underwriting or closing next week. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting with a lender who really understands VA guidelines and understands the calculation and can help you through it.

It's certainly worth a second opinion. If some lender has told you you have no eligibility left, it may be the case. But so oftentimes I find it's not, and you have enough eligibility to buy that home. Sometimes with a small down payment, sometimes no down payment at all. Let's at least take a look at it.

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Everyone on here, and that's the beauty of the expert network that you're watching this video on and other videos hopefully, is we're all hand picked. We know one another. We're all different companies, but we know one another. And the great thing is we have two things in common. We have a lot of experience lending in this industry, and everyone here I can tell you as the heart of a teacher.

They don't want to just get the commission or push you out the door or move on. Yeah, we make our living at this. So please do work with one or another of us, whatever state you're buying in. But the key is we all have our heart of a teacher. We want to teach and help. And that's the beauty of what brought us together to form this whole expert network. I hope that helps. And if I can help you with your VA loan and looking at it and what your eligibility is, reach out! We'll help you get pre-approved today. Talk to you soon.