Veteran Benefits Blog

Your Need Help, We Give Answers!

The Conversation I Had With My Son About VA Streamlines Loans

Jan 13

Posted by Craig_Walton in VA Loans, VA Streamline | Comments off

My son and I have always had an excellent relationship.  This was very evident this past week when he confided in me. This past Monday night he came over to my home and spoke with one another in my home office.  As it turned out my son was having some financial problems and he came to me looking for some viable solutions.  One of the problems I identified after speaking with him was his current mortgage.  He was paying 9.5 percent interest on his VA mortgage loan.  I told my son that he should look into getting a VA Streamlines loan.  I explained to him some of the benefits of refinancing.

One of the biggest benefits was that by using a VA Streamlines loan he would save a lot of money on his monthly payment. He was a little concerned about out of pocket expenses of getting a new loan. I explained to him that any fees associated with getting the new loan were included in the loan balance; thus, there would not be any out of pocket expense.  I also told him that there would not be the need for any sort of income or asset disclosure.  He left my home that night a happier man

Tags: ,

Can I Do A VA Streamline Right After I Buy A Home?

Jan 3

Posted by Craig_Walton in VA Loans, VA Streamline | Comments off

Can you do a VA streamline loan right after buying a home? Yes. You don’t have to wait any time at all to do a VA streamline. In fact, there are very few criteria that you do need to meet in order to qualify for one of these interest rate reduction loans.

Most importantly, you need to be a veteran and your current home has to have a VA loan for the mortgage. After that, you must make sure that you are up to date on your payments and have an interest rate currently of over 5%.

Regardless of whether you are in a fixed rate or variable rate mortgage, the VA streamline will lock you into a very low, fixed rate mortgage. The VA rates for these loans are some of the lowest in the country right now. For every percentage that you save, you can look forward to a savings of a few hundred dollars, depending upon the total value of your mortgage.

Think about what you can do with a few hundred dollars extra in your pocket each and every month. You can pay off credit card bills, start a savings account or even pay it back on your mortgage and pay off your house quicker than you would have been able to otherwise.

You don’t have to get a home appraisal, which means you don’t have to worry about being rejected for the loan because your house is worth less than what you owe. The great benefit of going through the VA is that you get a few extra perks than the rest of the world.

You don’t have to pay any money out of pocket, either. All of the closing costs can be added back into the total amount of the loan so that you don’t have to worry about where to come up with any money.

If you buy a home and qualify for a fairly high mortgage rate, you can immediately turn around and qualify for a VA streamline loan. This may drop your percentage rate lower than your initial contracted price and lock you in for the entire length of your mortgage. So even if you decided on a variable rate, you can now get a fixed rate so that you get to take advantage of these lower than ever VA streamline rates all because you are a veteran.

Whether you had your house for a month, a year or a decade, you may qualify for a VA streamline loan, so fill out the application and find out if you are approved today.

Tags: ,

Do I Need An Appraisal To Do A VA Streamline?

Dec 21

Posted by Craig_Walton in Refinancing, VA Streamline | Comments off

VA streamline loans are a great benefit to any veteran who has a VA loan for their current mortgage. One of the best perks is that you don’t need an appraisal to do a VA streamline loan. As long as you use low VA rates for your VA streamline loan, no one will come to do a home appraisal. This is a government subsidized loan that is only for veterans – if you aren’t a veteran, then you cannot take advantage of these great offers.

There are many other benefits to a VA streamline loan, too. You can get started on this loan, commonly referred to as an interest rate reduction loan, by filling out a quick online application to see if you approve. Once approved, you will lock into a very low, fixed rate mortgage so that you have the ability to save hundreds of dollars every single month.

Depending on how much you owe on your house and what your current interest rate is, you can look at saving as much as $600 every month for every percentage point that your interest rate is reduced by. This could add up to thousands of dollars every year.

When millions of people are losing their house to foreclosure because they can’t make the mortgage payment anymore, this is a great opportunity for anyone who currently has a VA loan for their mortgage. Since you are a veteran, you can take advantage of this opportunity and worry about what you owe on your home, not what your house is worth.

Many people aren’t taking advantage of refinancing opportunities because they all require a home appraisal, which in most cases will show that you are upside down in the house and you won’t qualify. When you don’t have a home appraisal to worry about, it’s one big thing out of the way that was in between you and qualifying for a VA streamline.

The low VA rates are lower than anywhere in the country because the government is offering a special deal to the veterans of the country. If you have served your country proudly, then you need to take advantage of this opportunity. Rates are extremely low and the more you save on your current rate, the more you save each and every month.

Best of all, you are locked in to a fixed rate, so you get to benefit from these low rates for the entire duration of your mortgage just because you decided to go for a VA streamline loan today. The process is simple, so you have no excuses.

Tags: ,

I Needed A Loan To Help With My Debt

Sep 12

Posted by Craig_Walton in VA Streamline | Comments off

I entered the military as soon as I graduated from high school. I proudly served my country for ten years but when my wife and I decided to start a family I decided that it was time to lay down permanent roots for our family. I retired from the service and we bought our first house. Unfortunately, I lost my job a few years later and we lived off of credit cards. My wife and I now have thousands of dollars in debt. An old army buddy suggested that we look into a VA refinance with Low VA Rates. He told us that we could refinance and get cash out to pay off our debts.

My wife and I were very intrigued by the idea of paying off our debts. We did a ton of research and looked into several different VA loan programs. We were both very encouraged and excited that living debt-free could finally be a reality for us. We found a great VA loan program that offered a VA refinance with Low VA Rates. The process was quick and easy and we had plenty of cash to pay off our debts. It was the best financial decision we’ve ever made.

Ways to Start Preparing for Deployment

Aug 5

Posted by Craig_Walton in Military Living | Comments off

Getting ready for a loved one to be deployed can be quite a challenge. There are quite a few ways to start preparing for deployment, however. You need to make sure that you are getting the support that you need while your loved one is gone. The service branches offer support and social groups that you can go to to get advice and counseling and healthy interaction. It helps quite a bit to speak with others that are going through the same thing you are because they truly understand how you feel. They might even have some helpful things to say.

If you have a family then it is very important for your kids to get to spend time with the person that is being deployed. You should also set aside plenty of time to be together in regular family activities that you all enjoy, such as playing games or riding bikes. You’re also going to want to figure out how your daily routines will change in order to start preparing for deployment. It’s going to come a lot sooner than you think, and if you start making changes gradually you’ll be able to handle it a lot easier than you would if you didn’t prepare.

Tags: ,

The way I saved on carpet cleaning

Jul 11

Posted by Craig_Walton in Military Living | Comments off

On Wednesday around eleven in the morning my wife and I were in the backyard on the porch. The reason we were there was because the carpet people were on the inside of the house cleaning the carpets. Our carpets had not been cleaned in about four years and they really needed to be cleaned. Between four kids, two dogs, and a pet rat that had escaped we certainly needed to have this done. One of the other reasons I decided upon getting this done was because of my military discounts. These days businesses are giving out these discounts more than ever.

I have always known that businesses tend to give discounts to people in the military and other job professions too. My uncle Mort is a police officer and he always seems to get discounts too. A few months back I was talking to my friend Rick who had been in the Army. He had told me about a website that gave the names to all of the places that gave discounts to men and women that serve and have served. I went to this website and found a ton of military discounts. I have been getting lots of discounts ever since.

Tags: ,

Honoring a grandfather in the U.S. Military

Jun 16

Posted by Craig_Walton in Military Living | Comments off

Wow, where to begin,. There are so many in my family that deserved to be honored for what they do. but if i had to pick one i would have to say my grandfather. he served in Vietnam. what a great man he was! but honestly i believe that everyone who serves should be honored!

Tags: ,

Dad waves at the bus

Jun 8

Posted by Craig_Walton in Uncategorized | Comments off

If our readers have not seen the media attention this dad is getting for his wave at the bus act and site you have to check it out.  He dressed up every day to send his 16 year old off to school. Check it out here: wave at the bus

Tags: ,

VA Streamline Helped With My Family Budget

May 31

Posted by Admin in Refinancing, VA Streamline | Comments off

I needed to get a va streanline with bad credit. It was pretty much the only way I could get a refinance in this market. My credit is not too good, but I had no late payments in the last year. Also, my income is not too good. Also, my house has depreciated a lot as well. Fortunately, the VA streamline only requires 12 months of good payment history. There was no appraisal or closing costs to pay. This refinance allowed me to get a lower interest rate as well as a lower payment, which has considerably eased my family’s financial numbers for the better.

Tags: ,

The Game Has Changed

May 20

Posted by Admin in VA Streamline | Comments off

When the housing market fell out, the va streamline without an appraisal loan sort of fell out with it. Lenders started requiring the homes to be of enough value to justify the refinance whereas before, they could write loans up to 150% percent of their value and lots of people got on board that train. It may not have been the smartest thing to do because what it created was people getting themselves into even more debt with no hope of ever coming out of it. It is hard to look at someone in their face and tell them they do not qualify for help.

Since the housing market is coming back a little, the rules on obtaining a va streamline without an appraisal are changing as well. They aren’t as strict as they were before when you had to have almost perfect credit to afford even the most run down of houses. I personally feel it is the Fed’s fault for allowing it to happen but there again, the borrowers could have backed out at any point

Tags: ,