The Department of Veterans Affairs offers a VA Certificate of Eligibility, or COE, to verify a borrower's eligibility for a VA-backed home loan. Most veterans can get one online in a matter of minutes. The following pages address service requirements, document requirements by category, application pathways, and the funding-fee and entitlement mechanisms that each applicant should be aware of.
Every borrower situation is different, and that is especially true for veterans. Two service members can have nearly identical credit profiles and income but very different paths to a VA loan, because what unlocks the door is not credit or income. It is the COE. The Certificate of Eligibility is the Department of Veterans Affairs' formal confirmation that a borrower has earned the right, through qualifying military service, to use a VA-backed mortgage.
The COE is not a preapproval, and it is not a loan offer. It is an eligibility statement. The VA reviews service records, applies the rules in 38 U.S. Code Chapter 37, and issues a one-page document that tells lenders three things: that the borrower qualifies, how much basic entitlement is available, and whether any prior VA loans have used up part of that entitlement. Lenders rely on this document at the underwriting stage, and they cannot close a VA loan without it on file.
Many veterans assume they need to chase down the COE before they ever talk to a lender. That assumption made more sense decades ago. The VA's Lender Generated Eligibility system, often shortened to LGY, now lets approved lenders pull most COEs in seconds, often during the application call itself. AmeriSave is a VA-approved lender, which means a borrower who walks in with a service history can usually have the COE in hand the same day. The takeaway: the COE matters, but ordering one before you apply for a loan is no longer the bottleneck it used to be.
Eligibility for a VA loan is built around minimum continuous service thresholds, and those thresholds change based on when you served and how you served. The Department of Veterans Affairs publishes these requirements in the VA Lenders Handbook and on its eligibility pages. The categories that matter most are veterans, active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and surviving spouses.
For a veteran who served on active duty, the rule is generally 90 continuous days of active service during a wartime period, or 181 continuous days during a peacetime period. The VA defines wartime periods specifically. Service during the Gulf War era, which the VA dates from August 2, 1990 to a date not yet set by law, qualifies under the 90-day rule. Earlier wartime periods include Vietnam, Korea, and World War II. Peacetime windows fall between those periods.
There is one exception worth knowing. A veteran discharged for a service-connected disability may qualify with less than the standard service time. The VA handles those cases on an individual basis, and the COE application gives space to note the disability discharge.
If you are still on active duty, the rule is simpler: 90 continuous days served. You do not need a discharge or a DD Form 214 yet. What you need instead is a current statement of service, signed by your commanding officer or personnel office, showing your name, Social Security number, date of birth, entry date, lost time, and the name of the command providing the statement.
A common scenario plays out for younger service members on a permanent change of station. Let's say a Navy lieutenant has been on active duty for two years and is moving to a new duty station where she wants to buy. She does not need to wait until separation. With 90 continuous days behind her and a current statement of service, she meets the VA's eligibility floor today.
Guard and Reserve eligibility is the area where assumptions go wrong most often. The VA recognizes two paths.
The first path is six years of honorable service in the Selected Reserve or National Guard, with discharge under conditions other than dishonorable, transfer to the Standby or Retired Reserve in honorable status, or continued service. The supporting document is typically NGB Form 22 for Guard members, or a points statement showing creditable service for Reserve members.
The second path was expanded under the Johnny Isakson and David P. Roe, M.D. Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act of 2020. Guard and Reserve members called to active duty under federal authority for at least 90 cumulative days, with at least 30 of those days served consecutively, also meet the active-duty eligibility threshold. The expansion bridged a long-running gap between Title 10 federal active duty and Title 32 full-time National Guard duty under sections 316, 502, 503, 504, or 505. The change applies retroactively, so Guard members who served decades ago under qualifying Title 32 orders may now qualify without hitting the six-year mark.
A surviving spouse can qualify for a COE in their own right under specific circumstances: the spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty, the spouse of a veteran who died from a service-connected disability, the spouse of a veteran who is missing in action or a prisoner of war for at least 90 days, and the spouse of a veteran who was rated totally disabled at the time of death. In some of those cases, the cause of death does not need to be service-connected.
Surviving spouse applications follow a distinct path, which is covered later in a section below. The short version: a different VA form is required, and the spouse cannot have remarried before age 57.
What separates a same-day COE from a six-week paperwork chase is usually one thing. Having the right documents on hand at the moment you apply.
For veterans who served on active duty and have separated, the central document is the DD Form 214, also titled the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty. This is the single most important record in a veteran's file. It shows dates of service, discharge type, and characterization of service. The VA needs to see Member Copy 4 specifically, because it shows the character-of-service block. Member Copy 1 omits that field and will not satisfy the VA.
If a veteran cannot find the DD-214, the National Archives' National Personnel Records Center maintains military service records and accepts requests through eVetRecs at the Archives' website. Most requests are filled within ten business days, though older records can take longer.
For active duty service members, the document needed is a statement of service on official letterhead. The statement should include the service member's name, Social Security number or DoD ID, date of birth, the date military service began, the duration of any lost time, and the name of the command providing the statement. There is no standard VA-issued form for this; each branch handles it through its own personnel office.
For National Guard members, the document is typically NGB Form 22, which is the Guard's equivalent of the DD-214. For Reserve members not yet discharged, a points statement from the appropriate service branch establishes creditable service. Active members of the Guard or Reserve currently called up under Title 10 federal authority can use a statement of service for the same effect.
For surviving spouses, the document set is broader. It includes VA Form 26-1817, which is the Request for Determination of Loan Guaranty Eligibility, along with the veteran's DD-214 or other discharge document, the marriage certificate, and the death certificate. If the spouse is receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, often abbreviated as DIC, the DIC award letter often serves as the VA's confirmation that the spouse qualifies. AmeriSave's loan officers help surviving spouses pull the document set together when the file is more complex.
The VA accepts COE applications through three channels. The fastest, the slowest, and the in-between one all produce the same document. The choice usually comes down to whether you already have a lender lined up.
The first option is to apply through a VA-approved lender. Lenders with access to the VA's LGY system can request the COE electronically and, in most cases, receive it within seconds. AmeriSave is a VA-approved lender, and a typical VA borrower request through AmeriSave takes minutes, provided the service record is in the VA's system. This is the route most veterans use today, because it folds the COE into the loan application and removes a separate step from the timeline.
The second option is to apply yourself online through the VA's portal at va.gov. Once logged in with a verified ID.me or DS Logon account, the veteran navigates to the home loan section and requests a COE. The system can issue an instant decision in many cases, particularly for veterans whose service records are already digitized. When the system cannot issue an instant decision, the request is routed to VA staff for manual review. Manual review can take a few weeks.
The third option is to apply by mail using VA Form 26-1880, the Request for Certificate of Eligibility. The form is mailed to the VA Regional Loan Center that serves the applicant's state. Mail-in applications are the slowest path and are now mostly used by applicants whose service records are not yet digitized or by surviving spouses who need to submit additional documentation. The Department of Veterans Affairs publishes the regional loan center addresses on its website.
A quick comparison helps frame the decision. If you are ready to start an application, the lender route is fastest. If you want the COE in hand before you talk to anyone, the online portal is the right call. The mail-in route is a backstop for unusual situations. AmeriSave's VA loan team can also walk a borrower through the online portal if the borrower wants to keep the COE separate from the loan application.
A finished COE is a single page that tells a story in coded fields. Most borrowers glance at the document, see the word "eligible," and move on. Loan officers and underwriters read it line by line, and so should you.
The top of the form lists the veteran's name, identifying information, and entitlement code. The entitlement code is a one- or two-digit indicator that tells lenders which service category created the eligibility. Code 01, for example, signals World War II service. Code 10 signals Persian Gulf service from August 2, 1990 to the present, which is the most common code on COEs issued today. Code 11 signals Selected Reserve service. Each code corresponds to a service period or a status defined in the VA's regulations.
The middle section shows the basic entitlement amount, typically $36,000, and the entitlement charged to existing VA loans. If a veteran has a current VA loan, the COE will show how much of that $36,000 has already been used. The remaining basic entitlement, plus available bonus entitlement, governs how large a loan a veteran can take without a down payment.
The bottom section shows special conditions, if any. The two most common special conditions are funding fee exemption for veterans receiving service-connected disability compensation, and loan limit modifiers. Underwriters check the conditions section first, because it changes how the loan is priced.
If the COE shows entitlement charged to a prior loan that has been paid off, the borrower may be eligible for restoration of entitlement, which is covered in a later section.
Entitlement is the financial concept that does the most work inside a VA loan. It is also the concept most borrowers find confusing, because the dollar amount on the COE is not what most lenders use to decide loan size. Understanding the difference is worth the time.
The basic entitlement amount, established by federal law at 38 U.S.C. § 3703, is $36,000 for most veterans. That number is a guaranty, not a loan amount. On a VA loan of $144,000 or less, the VA's basic guaranty to the lender is up to $36,000 if the veteran defaults. On a VA loan above $144,000, the VA's guaranty is 25% of the loan, drawn against the veteran's available entitlement. So $36,000 is not a cap on what a veteran can borrow. It is the dollar value the VA stands behind on smaller loans.
Here is where the math turns operational. Lenders generally want their VA guaranty plus any down payment to cover at least 25% of the loan amount. That's why the rule of thumb most loan officers use is: a veteran can typically borrow up to four times their available entitlement with no down payment. With $36,000 in basic entitlement and nothing else, that math gets you to $144,000 of loan amount with zero down. For most home prices today, $144,000 isn't enough on its own, which is where bonus entitlement comes in.
Bonus entitlement, sometimes called Tier 2 or secondary entitlement, extends the VA's guaranty up to 25% of the conforming loan limit set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency for one-unit properties. The Federal Housing Finance Agency publishes that limit annually. On a typical loan in a typical county, the combined basic and bonus entitlement is more than enough for a lender to issue a no-down-payment loan well into the high six figures.
Full entitlement is the term the VA uses for veterans who either have never used their VA loan benefit or have paid off and disposed of any prior VA-financed property. With full entitlement, there is no county loan limit applied to the VA loan. A borrower with full entitlement can buy in a high-cost county at a price the lender approves, with no down payment required, subject to lender overlays and standard underwriting.
Partial entitlement applies when a veteran is using a portion of their entitlement on an existing VA loan. In that case, the dollar amount of remaining entitlement determines the maximum no-down-payment loan amount, and the math depends on the conforming limit in the property's county. AmeriSave loan officers run that calculation routinely for borrowers buying with partial entitlement, especially veterans relocating on a permanent change of station who plan to keep their previous home.
Let's take a contrastive example. A veteran with full entitlement and a 740 credit score buying a $500,000 home can typically close a VA loan with zero down. A veteran with partial entitlement who is keeping a previous VA-financed property may face a small required down payment to make the math work. Not because of credit or income, but because the available bonus entitlement does not cover the full guaranty on the new loan. The COE is the document that surfaces this distinction.
For decades, the VA applied county-level loan limits that mirrored the conforming loan limits used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A veteran in a high-cost county had a higher VA limit; a veteran in a standard county had a lower one. That changed for most borrowers when the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, codified as Public Law 116-23, eliminated VA county loan limits for veterans with full entitlement. The change took effect on January 1, 2020.
The practical impact: a veteran with full entitlement can buy at any price the lender approves, with no down payment, with no county-by-county cap from the VA. The Department of Veterans Affairs preserved limits only for borrowers with partial entitlement, where the math still depends on the FHFA's conforming loan limit. For everyone else, the VA's loan size is bounded by the lender's underwriting decision and the borrower's qualifications, not by a published table.
This is one of the most consequential changes to the VA loan benefit in recent history. It is also among the most underused pieces of information among borrowers, because the older "VA loan limit" framing is sticky. Many veterans assume the limit still applies. AmeriSave's VA loan team frequently has the same conversation with first-time VA borrowers in markets with home prices above the historic conforming limit. Once the COE shows full entitlement, the limit conversation is over.
The exception worth flagging: lenders set their own underwriting overlays, which can include maximum loan amounts above the conforming threshold. A no-limit COE does not guarantee a no-limit lender. Borrowers comparing loan size should ask each lender about the maximum loan amount that lender will issue on a VA loan, because the answer is not always the same as the VA's.
The VA funding fee is the one-time cost the federal government collects to keep the VA loan program self-sustaining. It is not paid to the lender. It goes to the VA, full stop. The fee can be paid in cash at closing or rolled into the loan amount, which is what most borrowers choose.
The fee schedule depends on three variables: type of loan, down payment amount, and whether this is a first-time or subsequent VA loan use. The Department of Veterans Affairs publishes the current fee schedule on its website. The published schedule for purchase and construction loans by regular military, Reserve, and Guard members runs as follows: 2.15% for first-time use with no down payment, 1.50% for first-time use with 5 to less than 10% down, and 1.25% for first-time use with 10% or more down. For subsequent use, the fee rises to 3.30% with no down payment and stays at 1.50% or 1.25% with the same down-payment tiers. Cash-out refinances follow the same pattern. The VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, often called the IRRRL, carries a 0.50% fee.
The COE drives the funding fee in two ways. First, the COE shows whether this is a first-time or subsequent use, which determines the tier. Second, the COE shows whether the borrower qualifies for a funding fee exemption. Veterans receiving service-connected disability compensation are typically exempt. Surviving spouses who qualify for the COE under the spousal eligibility paths are typically exempt. Active-duty service members who received the Purple Heart became exempt under the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act.
A worked example helps. On a $400,000 first-time VA purchase with no down payment, a regular military veteran without a disability rating would owe a 2.15% funding fee, which works out to $8,600, most likely rolled into the loan. The same veteran with a service-connected disability rating shown on the COE would owe nothing in funding fee. That difference can change the monthly payment by roughly $50 to $60, depending on the rate. AmeriSave's loan officers always check the funding fee status on the COE before issuing a quote, because forgetting to apply the exemption is a common, correctable error in VA loan estimates.
If a veteran believes they qualify for the funding fee exemption but the COE does not show it, the fix is to apply for service-connected disability compensation through the VA. Once the rating is in place, the COE can be updated. Borrowers in that situation should not delay closing on a home if a planned VA disability claim is still pending. The VA refunds the funding fee retroactively in qualifying cases, per the funding fee refund procedures in the VA Lenders Handbook.
A clean COE is the norm, but not the rule. The VA returns a meaningful share of applications for additional information, and a smaller share with an outright denial. The most common reasons fall into a few buckets.
The first is incomplete service records. If the VA's automated system cannot match a service member's records, which is a common issue for older veterans or for those with name changes, the application moves to manual review. Manual review is not a denial. It is a delay, and it requires the applicant to send supporting documents like the DD-214 to the VA's Regional Loan Center.
The second is insufficient service time. A veteran who served less than the minimum continuous days for their service period, and who was not discharged for a service-connected disability, is not eligible for a VA loan. There is no workaround for this category through the COE process. The eligibility floors are statutory.
The third is character-of-service issues. A discharge under "Other Than Honorable" conditions does not automatically disqualify a veteran, but it does require additional VA review under the rules in 38 CFR Part 3.12. The VA's Character of Discharge process examines the circumstances of the discharge and issues a determination. A "Bad Conduct" or "Dishonorable" discharge generally does disqualify a veteran from VA loan benefits, though discharge upgrade boards at the Department of Defense may be available, and a successful upgrade can restore eligibility.
The fourth is a paperwork mismatch. If the DD-214 the veteran submits is Member Copy 1, which omits the character-of-service field, instead of Member Copy 4, the VA cannot complete the eligibility determination. Borrowers in that situation can request a corrected copy from the National Personnel Records Center.
When a COE comes back with a question rather than a yes or no, the right next step is usually to call the VA's Regional Loan Center listed on the response. AmeriSave's loan officers help borrowers walk that process when the issue surfaces during the loan application. The most important thing borrowers can do is respond promptly. Stale applications close out, and a closed application has to be reopened from scratch.
Many veterans use a VA loan once, and then later, life moves. They want to use the benefit again. Whether and how they can depends on entitlement restoration, which is the VA's process for freeing up the entitlement that was charged to a prior loan.
Two paths are available. The first is full restoration, which applies when the prior VA-financed property has been sold and the prior VA loan has been paid in full. After both conditions are met, the veteran can apply for a new COE, and the VA will show full entitlement again. This is the most common scenario and the simplest to handle.
The second is a one-time entitlement restoration, also called the one-time-only restoration. A veteran who has paid off the prior VA loan but still owns the financed property may be eligible to restore entitlement once in their lifetime. The application uses VA Form 26-1880 with a request for the one-time exception, and the VA reviews each case individually. After the restoration is granted, the veteran can use the full entitlement on a new VA loan, but the option cannot be used again.
There are scenarios where a veteran does not need to restore entitlement at all. If a veteran is buying a second home with a VA loan and keeping the first as a rental, the bonus entitlement may cover the new loan without restoration, provided the math works at the conforming loan limit in the new property's county. Loan officers run the entitlement math for borrowers in this situation regularly, because the answer often surprises veterans who assume a second VA loan is impossible.
A worked example clarifies this. A veteran who used $80,000 of entitlement on a previous VA loan still owns that property. The veteran wants to buy a new home in a new state. Available bonus entitlement is calculated against the conforming limit in the new county. If the bonus entitlement plus the remaining basic entitlement covers 25% of the new loan amount, the veteran can use the VA loan benefit on the second purchase without restoring the prior entitlement. If it does not, a small down payment closes the gap, or the veteran can wait until the prior VA loan is paid off and then pursue restoration.
Spousal COE applications follow a different track, with a different form, a different document set, and a different review process. The Department of Veterans Affairs treats this category seriously, and so should anyone helping a surviving spouse navigate the steps.
The form is VA Form 26-1817, the Request for Determination of Loan Guaranty Eligibility for Unmarried Surviving Spouses. The form is filed with the VA Regional Loan Center along with the veteran's DD-214 or equivalent service document, the marriage certificate, and the death certificate. If the spouse receives Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, including the DIC award letter accelerates the determination.
Eligibility for a spousal COE depends on which qualifying category applies: the spouse of a service member who died in the line of duty, the spouse of a veteran who died from a service-connected disability, the spouse of a veteran who was rated totally disabled at the time of death in certain cases, or the spouse of a veteran missing in action or a prisoner of war for at least 90 days. The VA publishes the full eligibility list at va.gov.
A surviving spouse who has remarried may still qualify in some circumstances. Under federal law, a spouse who remarried after age 57, and after December 16, 2003, generally retains eligibility. A spouse who remarried before age 57 typically does not, unless that subsequent marriage has ended.
Surviving spouses who qualify for the COE are also typically exempt from the VA funding fee. The COE will show the exemption directly. AmeriSave's loan officers assist surviving spouses with the document set and the application, because the path is unfamiliar to most borrowers and the timing matters when a home purchase is part of estate decisions.
A finished COE marks the beginning of the file rather than its conclusion. The loan follows the same general procedure as any mortgage once the borrower receives the certificate: preapproval, property identification, appraisal, underwriting, clear-to-close, and closing. The eligibility question is eliminated by the COE. All other underwriting is standard.
The COE is usually obtained within the first one to three days, and a fair VA loan timeline is 30 to 45 days from application to close. Because VA appraisals must be carried out by VA-approved appraisers utilizing VA Minimum Property Requirements, the appraisal is typically the longest single stage in that period. In addition to preventing borrowers from purchasing properties with significant habitability problems, these restrictions generate repair lists tied to appraisals, something that traditional loans do not.
Regardless of the down payment, borrowers utilizing VA loans should be aware that the program does not need private mortgage insurance. Even when compared to traditional loans with good credit, that one aspect frequently makes the VA loan the lowest monthly payment alternative for veterans. The trade-off is the financing charge, although many veterans are either exempt or pay it once and roll it into the loan, as the section above demonstrated.
Following the application, the loan officer's first action when a borrower works with AmeriSave on a VA loan is to pull the COE, verify the entitlement status and any funding fee exemption, and create the loan estimate based on the actual values on the certificate. Borrowers get caught off guard at closing when they skip that step or accept a quote that was created without looking at the COE. A neighbor's VA loan doesn't reveal anything about your own; each borrower's paperwork is theirs alone. The COE should be carefully reviewed as it is the first document in your file.
It is now simpler than ever to pull the COE. The LGY system provides same-day decisions for the majority of applicants, the VA has digitized the majority of its records, and the va.gov site takes care of the remainder. Knowing which service category you fit into, having the appropriate supporting documentation on hand, and reading the certificate when it is returned are the same things that have always mattered. The veterans with the best credit are not the ones that close the fastest. They were the ones who showed up with the DD-214, were aware of their entitlement narrative, and made insightful inquiries regarding the funding charge. From the initial eligibility inquiry until the closing day, the VA loan team assists clients in doing precisely that.
When applying through a VA-approved lender that makes use of the VA's Lender Generated Eligibility system, such as AmeriSave, the majority of veterans obtain their COE in a matter of minutes. In many instances, online applications via the VA portal also result in immediate decisions, especially when service records have already been digitized. Applications submitted by mail using VA Form 26-1880 typically take four to six weeks. Processing schedules are posted on the pages of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Regional Loan Center. The schedule is extended to two to four weeks if a request is sent to manual review due to incomplete records or exceptional service circumstances. Since most manual reviews end in the applicant's favor once supporting documentation is received, borrowers awaiting manual review shouldn't assume the application is rejected.
No. Every VA-backed loan must have the COE on file; without it, lenders are unable to fund a VA loan. However, borrowers tend to overestimate the importance of timing. Through the VA's electronic system, the majority of VA-approved lenders, including AmeriSave, may retrieve the COE during the application process, frequently in a matter of minutes. Seldom is it necessary to wait to apply for a VA loan in order to obtain the COE separately. Usually, the two processes are completed simultaneously. The exception is when a borrower has an atypical service history or unresolved character-of-discharge difficulties; in these situations, getting the COE beforehand avoids needless application work. The Department of Veterans Affairs states that the loan application procedure and the COE procedure are intended to operate concurrently.
According to 38 U.S.C. § 3703 of the federal code, the basic VA loan entitlement is $36,000. That is not the loan amount; rather, it is the VA's guarantee to the lender. Bonus entitlement, which increases the VA's guarantee up to 25% of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's conforming loan ceiling for one-unit buildings, is also available to the majority of veterans. When a borrower has full entitlement, the VA loan has no county loan limit. This means that, subject to underwriting, the borrower can buy at any price the lender allows without having to make a down payment. The maximum no-down payment amount for partial entitlement is determined by a minor computation against the county's conforming limit. That computation is commonly performed by AmeriSave loan officers.
Yes, but many veterans don't realize how lenient the restrictions are. A veteran is eligible without additional evaluation if they get an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. The veteran is not automatically disqualified if their discharge is classified as Other Than Honorable. To ascertain eligibility based on the facts, the VA does a Character of Discharge evaluation in accordance with 38 CFR Part 3.12. VA loan eligibility is typically prohibited by a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable discharge; however, eligibility may be restored if a discharge upgrade is approved by the Department of Defense's discharge review boards. Before applying for a loan, veterans who have doubts about their character of service should ask the VA for an eligibility assessment because a clear response upfront saves time.
Yes, most of the time. The VA funding fee is normally waived for veterans who receive service-connected disability benefits from the VA; this exemption will be clearly displayed in the COE. According to the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act, active-duty service personnel who received the Purple Heart are also exempt, as are surviving spouses who meet spousal qualifying requirements for the COE. The financing fee may still be due at the closing table by a veteran who is awaiting a disability rating determination. According to the guidelines in the VA Lenders Handbook, the VA reimburses the funding cost if the rating is subsequently approved with an effective date before closing. In order to identify this exemption when it is applicable, AmeriSave loan officers monitor the financing fee status on each VA loan estimate.
Whether you still own the financed property determines which of the two options is best for you. Once the VA reviews the disposition paperwork, full entitlement is immediately restored if the property has been sold and the previous VA loan has been fully repaid. VA Form 26-1880 is used by the veteran to apply for a new COE, which will reflect complete entitlement. The veteran may request a one-time entitlement restoration if the property has not been sold but the previous VA loan has been fully repaid. The one-time exception is requested in writing using the same form. The option is used once the VA approves the request for each veteran. Before signing on a new property, borrowers who intend to take up a second VA loan should ask for the COE update because underwriting needs the most recent entitlement number.
Yes, within certain guidelines established by the Department of Veterans Affairs. A surviving spouse may be eligible if the veteran passed away while performing their duties, if the veteran had a handicap related to their service, if the veteran was considered wholly disabled at the time of death in certain situations, or if the veteran was missing in action or a prisoner of war for a minimum of ninety days. VA Form 26-1817, the veteran's DD-214, the marriage certificate, and the death certificate are used in the application. Remarriage after the age of 57 and after December 16, 2003, usually maintains eligibility, whereas remarriage before the age of 57 usually disqualifies a spouse. The VA financing cost is normally waived for spousal COE holders. Since the spousal path requires more paperwork than a standard veteran COE request, AmeriSave's VA loan staff assists surviving spouses with the application and document set.
Fact Checked
