5 Steps to get you started with a VA mortgage in Wisconsin Illinois Minnesota Florida: Service Eligibility

This week I will be describing 5 important steps to obtaining a VA loan. With so much information out there, I’ve never seen anything that explains the entire process of obtaining a VA loan.

1. Service Eligibility
2. Obtaining your Certificate of Eligibility
3. Funding Fee
4. Looking for a house
5. Choosing a Lender

First, we’ll help determine who is eligible to take advantage of this program.

There are four groups that you could fall into and still be eligible for a Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota or Florida VA loan:
1. Veterans Still on Active Duty
2. Discharged Veterans (Regular Military)
3. Current Reserve/Guard Members
4. Discharged Reserves/Guard Members

For Veterans still on Active Duty you will need a statement of service signed and dated by your commanding officer on official letterhead that includes:
Service members name
Date of birth
Social security number and/or service number
Enlistment date
The fact that you are still on active duty
Contain the phrase No Time Lost (if applicable), or list the time lost
If you are in the reserves or national guard, indicate if you are serving under the authority of title 10 or title 32

For Discharged Veterans (Regular Military) you will need to provide a certificate of release or your discharge from active duty (DD214). To obtain a DD214 visit this site: http://www.archives.gov.

For Current Reserve/Guard Members you will need a statement of service signed and dated by your commanding officer on official letterhead that includes the following:

Veteran's full name
Social security number
Entry date of applicant's Reserve/Guard Duty

The statement must clearly indicate that the applicant is an "active" reservist and not in a control group (inactive status)

For Discharged Reserves/Guard Members you will need a report of separation and record of service, NGB Form 22 or a points statement.
The points statement or other documentation will need to reflect 6 years of participation with evidence of honorable discharge.

What's Next?
If you are able to obtain the above information, the next step would be to obtain your Certificate of Eligibility. I will go in depth on how to do this in tomorrow's blog post.

Dennis Hardy
Toll Free: 877-240-5810 x104
dennis.hardy@madisonmortgageguys.com
www.madisonmortgageguys.com

Visit my blog at http://www.madisonmortgageguys.com/blogs_dennis_hardy/

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