VA Loan Updates

Legislation led by Senators Webb, Hagel, Lautenberg and Warner will expand educational opportunities for veterans. 

Arguing that “soldiers who share the same foxhole for the same length of time should get the same benefit,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced his support today for the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22).

Reintroduced late last week, the legislation commonly referred to as the “21st Century GI Bill” will provide service members who have served since September 11th, 2001 with improved educational benefits similar to those provided to World War II-era veterans.

As Wyden noted the legislation will provide Oregon members of the National Guard and Reserves who have been deployed overseas with the same educational benefits enjoyed by active duty service members.

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Q: I’m a veteran and am eligible for a VA Certificate of Eligibility, which guarantees the lender a percentage of the loan. Can I use this as a portion, if not for all, of the down payment? — J.V.

A: No, but you won’t need to. The certificate isn’t exactly cash money.

But with the government guaranteeing part of your loan, the lender can lend you the entire purchase price, with no down payment.

Talk with a mortgage broker, or directly to local lenders, and they’ll explain.

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Under the command of an Army general, U.S. troops carrying tear gas and rifles were sent to rout the protesters and clear their camps. One member of the general’s staff wasn’t at all keen on the idea; and the president of the United States was reluctant to sanction the action, as well. But, the general prevailed, convincing in his argument that the group holed up on the swampy Anacostia Flats across from the nation’s capital represented a communist attempt to overthrow the government.

The year was 1932. The Army general was George S. Patton. The staff member was Dwight D. Eisenhower and the U.S. president was Herbert H. Hoover. The “communist” insurgents were an assemblage of about 17,000 World War I veterans, their families and affiliate groups, seeking immediate cash payment of Services Certificates that had been granted to the veterans eight years previously by the Adjusted Service Certificate Law of 1924, but which could not be redeemed until 1945.

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The National Association of Realtors(R) testified today in Congress that the Veterans Home Loan Guaranty Program should continue to be a valuable asset in helping the nation’s veterans achieve the dream of homeownership in a way that is safe, fair and affordable.

“The VA Home Loan Guarantee Program is designed to provide favorable loan terms for veterans who are unable to qualify for a conventional loan,” said Tony Agurs, a member of the NAR Board of Directors and Realtor(R) from California who is a 21-year U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “The VA program offers unique and important benefits for helping our military families achieve the dream of homeownership,” Agurs said.

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You may have heard military advertisements offering college tuition as an inducement for young people to sign up. A Vermont man who fought in Iraq now claims that a military recruiter misled him about those education benefits.

Drew Cameron is 26 years old and finishing his last semester toward an undergraduate degree at the University of Vermont. Some, but not all, of his tuition is covered by the G.I. Bill, augmented by a cash bonus program. That’s hardly enough, he says, especially when he believed the recruiter who signed him up for the Army.

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Tammy Acosta served her country for nearly seven years in the Army, working as a signal intelligence analyst in the U.S. and abroad in Germany and Bosnia. Now she’s taking advantage of GI Bill benefits she earned to get a master’s degree in business administration from Troy University.

Acosta is among the growing ranks of veterans, including veterans of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking advantage of the benefits they earned to complete their college education. Nearly 22 million veterans and dependents have used the GI Bill to pay for college since it was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. In recent years, about 300,000 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have used the GI Bill, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Troy University is seeing an influx of veterans using the bill to attend college.

Alex McHahan, assistant director of financial aid and veterans affairs, said the number of veterans and eligible dependents attending college on the GI bill has increased by 25 percent over the past five years. (Spouses or children of military personnel killed or completely disabled as a result of their service are usually eligible for education assistance under the GI Bill.)

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This week, a delegation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) visited Washington to tell lawmakers one thing: Our newest generation of veterans deserves real educational benefits that make college tuition affordable.

Now is the time for our Congress to take action on this and pass a 21st century GI Bill.

After World War II, attending college gave veterans time to readjust to civilian life and prepared them for careers as innovators and leaders. For every dollar spent on the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, seven went back into the economy in the form of increased productivity, consumer spending, and tax revenue.

Today’s GI Bill only covers part of the costs of college. Tuition costs have increased faster than inflation, and many veterans must take out student loans or forego education altogether.

In a time when we are asking so much of our Armed Forces, paying for college is one of the best ways to show our gratitude as a nation. Congress needs to pass a new GI Bill this year.

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As a House subcommittee reviews expired and expiring veterans programs, veterans groups are urging the lawmakers to strengthen employment and re-employment rights programs, extend an option for adjustable-rate veterans’ home loans, and restore a $100 cut in monthly payments for apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

Although 13 programs are being re-evaluated, the one getting the most attention is a lapsed test program that had top government lawyers involved in resolving employment and re-employment rights complaints from federal workers who also serve in military reserve components.

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Joseph Nannery of Fremont served eight years as a Marine before enlisting in the National Guard in 2001, and in March 2004, he was deployed as an infantry squad leader to Iraq.

When he returned home in February 2005, it had been 16 years since he attended school.

Working full time as a project analyst for a green residential building contractor in Santa Clara, he attends Ohlone College at night to fulfill his undergraduate requirements. He hopes to pursue a degree in environmental studies at San Jose State University. He would like to then earn a law degree.

But Nannery found that the GI Bill, set up after World War II to help veterans pay for college, was falling short.

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On the eve of the 62nd anniversary of the passing of the Rescission Act of 1946 Sunday (Feb. 17), Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), said in an email that the “pension benefit (of S. 1315) is far too generous.” Sen Craig is one of the ranking members of the US Senate Veterans committee blocking the passage of the S. 1315 or the Veterans Benefits Enhancements Act.

The Senate bill, S. 1315, designed to repeal the law that took away the full benefits of Filipino World War II veterans is pending before the full Senate. However, Senator Craig disclosed to this reporter that he is “pleased to be an original co-sponsor of S. 2640″ introduced by Sen. Richard Burr (R - NC) last Feb. 14 “as an alternative to S. 1315″ because “it incorporates many of the very important provisions of S. 1315.”

He said the bill provides “retroactive payments of up to $100,000 to all disabled veterans who sustained severe injuries since the war on terror began, increased insurance coverage for severely disabled veterans under the Veterans’ Mortgage Life Insurance Program, and housing and auto grants to veterans with severe burns who require modifications to either their homes or vehicles.”

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