The following article was written by Matt Polsky who is a guest author from VA Benefit Blog, a blog focused on providing veterans and service members with news and information on the benefits they have earned through serving our country.

The VA Home Loan
The VA home loan program was created in 1944 by the Department of Veteran Affairs to honor veterans and active duty service members returning from World War II. The program’s first design was to provide the dream of homeownership without having to jump through hoops to get financing.

Similarly to today, the program still provides the dream of homeownership, but is specifically designed to meet the financial and lifestyle needs of our service members. Many service members have seen frequent moves and long deployments, which consequentially hurts credit scores and savings. With the VA home loan program, soldiers and veterans can receive low interest rates, flexible loan terms, and save on large out-of-pocket expenses not found in conventional programs.

The VA Loan Process
The VA loan process was designed to be simple and hassle free. In fact, obtaining a VA is so easy that eligible military members can expect to finance a home in as little as 60 days by following these five steps:
1. Contacting a VA Loan Specialist
2. Submitting Their Certificate of Eligibility
3. Finding a Home
4. Filling Out a VA Home Loan Application
5. Closing the Loan

Using a VA Home Loan in Oregon
One of the greatest benefits to soldiers is the VA loan program’s optional down payment. This is useful for service members who have moved many times and not been able to build the large down payment required by traditional loans. Oregon VA loans also offer high loan limits. Applicants in Oregon can purchase a home up to $417,000 without putting anything down.

In addition to high loan limits, the VA home loan offers many other benefits that veterans and active duty service members may not have been able to obtain with a conventional loan program including:
* Zero down payment
* No mortgage interest required
* Higher debt to income ratios allowed

Who is Eligible for a VA Home Loan?
Not only do VA loans offer incomparable benefits to make homeownership affordable, but they also have more lenient eligibility requirements to make homeownership more easily accessible. In order to qualify for a VA home loan, military members must submit a Certificate of Eligibility and have:
* Served for 3 months on active duty during war time or 181 days on active duty during peacetime
* Served for at least 6 years in the Reserves or National Guard

The VA home loan program has no income or credit requirements; however, potential borrowers should be aware that most lenders require a credit score of at least 620 to secure financing. If an interested borrowers’ credit is imperfect, they are still encouraged to apply for a loan as even those with a history of bankruptcy or foreclosure have been approved in the past.