Over the past few months, as the credit crunch has deepened, lenders have become increasingly strict with VA home loans. Instead of sticking to the VA guidelines, lenders are now implementing their own policies. Gone are the days when no credit is needed. gone are the days when an appraisal is not necessary for a VA streamline. Gone are the days when service to our country is the major prerequisite for a VA loan.

Now, to make matters worse lenders are pulling the rug out form under the nations veterans. Recently, AME Financial Corp decided that not funding loans already closed by veterans was in their best interest. Yes, that is correct. Loans that have CLOSED but not FUNDED will not be funded by AME. This means that Vets are left in a lurch on their VA loans. The locks that were guaranteed, are no longer valid. All time low rates are lost due to ineptitude on the part of the lender. A press release can be found here.

What does this mean for the everyday veteran?

It means that taking advantage of all time low rates just got that much more difficult. Sadly this sort of behavior is not uncommon of banks that are ready to implode. ml-implode.com tallies a running list of failed banks, and do not be surprised when AME becomes the next.

What you can do.

Start the process now to take advantage of historically low rates. We may never again see fixed rates below 5%. Take advantage before further tightening occurs. Contact your LowVARates.com preferred lender, Flagship Financial Group, as soon as possible to get started. The Streamline loan process takes about 5 weeks start to finish and can save you hundreds each month. And with the holidays upcoming you can forgo 1-2 mortgage payments with no penalty.

JR McKee started as a loan officer in 2005. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from Brigham Young University and has a wife an 3 beautiful children. JR also spent 4 years as an Air Force Reservist. When he is not working to save veterans money each month he can be found on the ski slopes in the winter, and the Ball diamond with his son, or on the golf course, in the summer.

Tags: va benefits, va home loans, VA Loan, va loans, va mortgage, veteran loan

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 2:38 PM and is filed under Loan Processing, VA Loan, VA Refinance, VA Streamline Refinance, underwriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.