VA Loan Updates

The media are full of stories of how badly the returning disabled vets from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated. Walter Reed and other military hospitals and Veterans Affairs will be pilloried, along with the Bush administration, and then things will probably settle down without much change for the returning veterans.The VA, with the blessings of both Republican and Democratic administrations, has established a system that will not get at the root problems that then get built into the system in the form of disability pensions for disabled veterans.

I was severely wounded in the closing days of combat in Germany in World War II. After a year in Army hospitals, I went to college on the GI Bill and then was given a 50 percent disability rating by the VA.

In the 56 years since then, I have never been examined by the VA to see if I am recovered or whether I need the money any more! With the blessings of Congress and the pressure of the veterans’ lobby, these disability pensions have become lifetime entitlements, not helps to getting back to a normal life.

(more…)

Sphere: Related Content

QUESTION: My girlfriend and I were thinking of purchasing a home in the city this spring. I bought a car in November, so I have a new outstanding auto loan of about $18,000. How much will that hurt my credit score?

Also, if we are buying the house together, do lenders look at both of our credit scores and come up with a single number for the two of us?

- Kevin Thompkins,

Philadelphia

ANSWER: Mortgage banker Kevin Berju of Trident Mortgage says when there are two mortgage applicants, lenders typically use the lower credit score. However, lenders are looking at three scores: one from each of the three national credit bureaus. If both applicants have a middle score over 620 they still may qualify for a conventional mortgage. (Middle scores below 620 may mean an FHA or VA loan is a better option.)

Found here.

Sphere: Related Content

Far from the halls of Congress, in a quiet rural Tennessee community, Sgt. Jason Pepper does his best to rebuild his shattered body without the help of the Veterans Benefits Administration.

“I could go to the VA in Nashville, but with my disgust and experiences with the VA, I choose not to,” says the 29-year-old Iraq War vet who holds the Bronze Star With Valor for his actions underfire.

Following Bob Woodruff’s special reports about his own experience with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, after a roadside bomb wounded him in Iraq, Pepper’s wife wrote to ABC News to discuss her husband’s battle for care.

(more…)

Sphere: Related Content

Over Here tells the story of the G.I. Bill

Those of us who grew up after the debut of MTV are long accustomed to associating the struggle for justice with self-expression: the protest song, the march on the Mall, the bumper sticker, the standard tools of protest since the Vietnam War. The more people get involved, get aware, get active, we think, the closer we come to a just society.

But what was arguably America’s most influential social justice initiative was not the result of a nationwide movement or even a really great rock anthem. It was instead the prosaically named Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—better known as the G.I. Bill—and like any piece of complex legislation, it was the child of late-night compromises between strange bedfellows. Most of the public had no idea the bill was passed. Many soldiers would not learn of their potential benefits until long after they came home. Yet the outcome, as detailed in Edward Humes’ book Over Here: How the G. I. Bill Transformed the American Dream, was the sort of equality of opportunity Americans still think they stand for and an economic and cultural renaissance we have yet to fully appreciate.

(more…)

Sphere: Related Content

Serving Those Who Serve Assists Severely-Injured Veterans With $1.2 Million in Grants From Countrywide Financial Corporation

CIBOLO, Texas, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Rebuilding Together(R), the nation’s largest volunteer home rehabilitation organization, is providing modifications and repairs at the home of Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Christopher Edwards through its Serving Those Who Serve(SM) program today. Countrywide(R) Financial Corporation, America’s #1 home loan lender*, has contributed more than $1.2 million as the founding sponsor of a nationwide program that provides free home modifications to severely-injured soldiers and veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

(more…)

Sphere: Related Content

Question: I understand that combat veterans who separate from the armed forces are eligible for two years of Department of Veterans Affairs health care. Do they have to pay co-payments, and what happens after the two-year period has ended?

Answer: During the two-year period following their separation from active-duty service, Operation Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans have no co-payments for any medical service related to conditions that were made worse by or during service, did not exist before joining the service, started before leaving the service or are clearly related to service, based on the VA clinician’s judgment. After the two-year period is up, the veteran will be moved to the appropriate enrollment priority group and co-payment category based upon their income and other eligibility factors. If their income places them into priority group 8 — co-payment required — their VA enrollment will continue regardless of the date of their original VA application.

---

Q: I found out that the VA has a Native American Direct Loan Program for purchasing a house. Does that program exist in Hawaii for native Hawaiians? A: In 1992, Congress established the Native American Veteran Direct Loan Pilot Program. American Indian veterans can purchase, construct or improve a home on American Indian trust land. Hawaiian veterans wishing to apply for the VA Native American Direct Loan Program must first comply with the legal requirements set by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. For more information or to request an application, go to www.state.hi.us/dhhl or call (808) 586-3830. The Honolulu Loan Guaranty Division can assist eligible Hawaiian veterans with a VA-guaranteed loan. To contact the VA regarding all VA home loans, call (808) 433-0481.Found here.

Sphere: Related Content

WASHINGTON — Veterans Affairs officials faced a fresh round of bipartisan criticism over data security Wednesday after auditors told a congressional committee that gaping holes persist and agency officials said they still don’t know how a recent breach happened.

The department’s inspector general’s office told the House Veterans Affairs oversight subcommittee that even after a series of lapses in the past year, most VA data remains unencrypted and the department still doesn’t know how many portable computers and hard drives are in use or what information is stored on them.

VA Deputy Secretary Gordon Mansfield also acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of medical providers whose sensitive information may have been compromised in Birmingham, Ala., more than a month ago have still not been notified they are at risk.

(more…)

Sphere: Related Content

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb has proposed the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2007,” which would reinstate the old GI bill that benefited returning GIs after World War II. The proposed bill, which is now before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, would pay for tuition, fees, room and board and a monthly stipend of $1,000 for 36 months. The current Montgomery GI Bill does not factor in education inflation, and veterans are finding themselves having to take out huge loans to fund their education.

I am a 21-year-old, 50 percent disabled Army Airborne Infantry veteran, who served for 11 dangerous months of combat in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I received awards and had more than 200 missions “outside the wire.” We bled the same as our grandfathers in World War II and, like them, deserve a full ride. Unlike my grandfathers, I had my already meager pay docked because I opted for the current educational benefit.

We did our job when called upon and now it is time for our country to do what is right. I think that replacing the current system would also serve as a useful recruiting tool for future veterans and provide an incentive to help us build a better life, and, in turn, a better country.

Robert S. Herring

Longwood

Found here.

Sphere: Related Content