Six questions about your service — no credit pull, no contact details, no obligation. You'll see your likely eligibility, whether you have full or partial entitlement, and what the VA funding fee would be for your situation.
No-obligation VA pre-qualification review.
VA loan eligibility comes from service, not income or assets: generally 90 continuous days of active duty in wartime, 181 days in peacetime, or six years in the Guard or Reserve, with a discharge other than dishonorable. Many surviving spouses qualify too. A Certificate of Eligibility proves it.
Eligibility is decided by service, discharge and remaining entitlement — not by your credit score — so most veterans qualify long before they think they do.
Reviewed by the licensed mortgage team at Simply Approved Mortgages · Last verified August 25, 2026 against the VA Lenders Handbook (M26-7)
Get my Certificate of EligibilityEverything stays in your browser. At the end you'll get a document checklist for your Certificate of Eligibility.
No credit pull, no contact details required to see your result. Answers stay in your browser.
VA eligibility comes down to three things, and none of them are your credit score or your income.
Credit, income and residual income decide the loan, not the benefit. See VA requirements for the underwriting side, and the COE walkthrough to make your eligibility official.
Generally 90 continuous days of active service during wartime, 181 continuous days during peacetime, or 6 years in the National Guard or Reserve (or 90 days of active service under Title 10). Exceptions exist for a discharge due to a service-connected disability, hardship, or reduction in force.
No. Anything other than a dishonorable discharge can still qualify. VA reviews the character of service, and a discharge upgrade or a character-of-discharge determination can restore eligibility even after an other-than-honorable discharge.
No. It is an educational screening tool. Only VA can confirm entitlement, and it does that through the Certificate of Eligibility (COE). The check tells you which documents to gather and which COE path applies to you.
No. The eligibility check asks no financial questions and performs no credit inquiry. If you later choose to start a pre-qualification, lenders may review credit as part of underwriting; requirements vary by lender.
Talk through your scenario with a licensed VA team. Not an approval or commitment to lend.
SAM is the Simply Approved Mortgages AI assistant, grounded in the VA Lenders Handbook M26-7, 38 CFR Part 36 and the county loan-limit file behind this page. It answers general VA questions. A licensed mortgage loan originator reviews every scenario before any terms are confirmed.
Hi — I'm SAM with Simply Approved Mortgages. Ask a question about VA loan eligibility, or pick one of the popular questions beside this box.
AI assistant — general VA loan education only, not financial, legal or tax advice, not a loan approval, pre-approval or commitment to lend. Simply Approved Mortgages LLC (NMLS #2620881) is an independent mortgage broker and is not the VA, HUD or any government agency, and is not endorsed by them. All loans are subject to lender underwriting, appraisal and final approval. Equal Housing Opportunity.
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Un-remarried surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability can use the VA loan benefit — often with the funding fee waived entirely.
The VA funding fee schedule sets the one-time cost that replaces mortgage insurance on every VA loan. Here's the current chart, who's exempt, and how it's financed.
A VA loan can finance up to a 4-unit property with $0 down, as long as you live in one unit. Rent from the other units can even help you qualify.
Program rules and figures on this page are taken from the primary government sources below, not from third-party summaries.
Verified against VA Lenders Handbook M26-7, Change 6 — August 12, 2026. Simply Approved Mortgages is not affiliated with or endorsed by HUD, VA, or any government agency.
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