VA Loan Eligibility

How VA Loan Eligibility Works in Practice

VA loan eligibility starts with your military service history, but it does not end there. The Department of Veterans Affairs provides a framework, and then individual lenders apply their own standards on top of it. Understanding how these pieces fit together will help you know what to expect when you move from reading about VA loans to actually applying for one.

Your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is the VA's official confirmation that you qualify for the VA home loan benefit. It summarizes your service record as it relates to home loan entitlement and tells lenders how much of your benefit is available. You or your lender can request it directly from the VA. Having a COE does not guarantee approval, but you cannot close on a VA-backed loan without it.

Once you have a COE, the focus shifts to the lender. Although the VA does not set a minimum credit score or strict debt-to-income ratio, most lenders do. They review your credit history, income, employment stability, existing debts, and the property you want to finance. In this sense, VA eligibility is a two-part test: the VA confirms you have earned the benefit, and the lender confirms that the loan is likely to be repaid.

For buyers interested in VA assumable loans, eligibility still matters. When you assume an existing VA loan, the new borrower typically needs to meet VA program requirements and the current lender's underwriting standards. If the new borrower is not VA-eligible, the original veteran's entitlement may stay tied up in that loan unless the VA approves a substitution of entitlement. Because of this, many veterans prefer that another VA-eligible borrower assume their loan so their entitlement can be restored when the assumption is complete.

Finally, keep in mind that VA entitlement is reusable. If you qualify once, you can often use your benefit again after selling or paying off the prior VA-financed property, or in some cases after a qualified assumption. The specific path depends on how much entitlement is still tied to existing loans and whether the VA releases it.

Key Service Requirements and Who Qualifies

Although your summary highlights the main points, it helps to break the service requirements into clear categories. The VA looks at when and how you served, as well as your discharge status, to determine whether you meet the minimum service thresholds.

In general, you may be eligible for a VA home loan if you:

• Served a minimum period of active duty, which usually means at least 90 consecutive days during wartime, 181 days during peacetime, or 24 continuous months for many modern-era veterans, depending on the dates of service and the specific statutory rules in effect at that time.
• Completed the required service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or as an activated member of the National Guard or Reserve, with federal active-duty orders.
• Received an honorable discharge or a discharge characterized as other than dishonorable, meeting the VA's character of service standards.

Many current and former members of the National Guard and Reserve also qualify, even if they never served on full-time active duty. The VA has specific rules for qualifying Guard and Reserve service, including the length of service and whether it included activation under qualifying federal orders. These details all appear on the COE.

Surviving spouses have their own path to eligibility. Unremarried surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty or from a service-connected disability can often obtain a COE in their own name. In some cases, certain remarried surviving spouses may qualify if they remarried after a specific age or date set by Congress. As with veterans, the COE is the key document that confirms this eligibility to lenders.

There are also more specialized categories, such as veterans discharged early because of a service-connected disability, certain public health or service academy roles that later transitioned to qualifying service, and other nuanced cases. In borderline situations, the VA reviews the full service record to determine whether the intent of the law has been met.

Putting this together, the core of VA loan eligibility remains consistent: sufficient qualifying service, acceptable character of discharge, and a COE that documents both. Once those are in place, the rest of the process becomes a discussion with a lender about affordability, property type, and whether an assumption or a new VA loan is the best fit.