VA Handbook Chapter 1: Lender Approval Explained in Plain English

Last reviewed: October 6, 2026
Primary source: VA Pamphlet 26-7 (VA Lenders Handbook), Chapter 1: Lender Approval Guidelines, current as published on the VA’s official KnowVA Knowledge Base. All fifteen topics carry Change Date February 1, 2019 (“This chapter has been revised in its entirety”). No later transmittal of change to the handbook touches Chapter 1.

How this post works: Chapter 1 is the handbook chapter about the lenders themselves. It is not about your credit or your income. It is the rulebook VA uses to decide which lenders may close VA loans, who may underwrite them, and what happens when a lender breaks the rules. We go through it in the VA’s own order, all fifteen topics. For each section: what the handbook says (with direct quotes in the blue boxes), what that means in plain English, and why it matters to you as the borrower. The stories are illustrations based on situations I see in my pipeline. Names, companies, and identifying details are changed.

Read this first (the three sentences that matter most)

If you read nothing else on this page, read these three facts, because they change how you shop for a lender. One: a “VA-approved lender” is not just a marketing phrase. VA grants lenders authority to close loans without VA’s prior approval, and lenders earn and keep that authority by meeting real financial and staffing requirements. Two: the person deciding your file is a VA-approved underwriter who signs your loan analysis, and if that underwriter leaves the company, their VA approval ends with the job. Three: if the company you are working with is actually a broker, the handbook says the funding lender behind them is fully responsible for everything the broker does, mistakes included.

The rest of this article is the chapter itself, in order. It reads like it was written for lenders, because it was. But every rule here eventually lands on a borrower’s kitchen table.

Topic 1: Definitions and Authorities

What this section says

The definitions set up three kinds of players. A supervised lender is one already examined by a federal or state regulator (think banks and credit unions). A nonsupervised lender is everyone else, and a nonsupervised automatic lender is one that applied for and earned the right to close loans without VA’s prior approval. Then there are the agents: “An Agent may also be referred to as a Mortgage Broker,” performing work on behalf of a sponsoring lender.

The topic also lists the loan types that every lender, automatic authority or not, must submit to VA for prior approval: joint loans (Veteran with Veteran, or Veteran with non-Veteran), loans to Veterans receiving VA nonservice-connected pension, loans to Veterans with a VA appointed fiduciary, IRRRLs refinancing delinquent VA loans, manufactured home loans (unless the home is permanently affixed and considered real estate under state law), and unsecured loans or loans secured by less than a first lien.

What that means

Most of the VA lending world runs on automatic authority. When your lender closes your loan, VA usually does not pre-review it. The lender’s own VA-approved underwriter makes the call, and VA guarantees the loan based on the lender’s certification. Prior approval is the exception path, reserved for the trickier loan types listed above. So when someone tells you “VA denied my loan,” what usually happened is the lender’s underwriter denied it. VA itself only touches the files that get submitted for prior approval.

The supervised versus nonsupervised split is the chapter’s backbone, and it shows up in the comparison table below. The short version: banks and credit unions supervised by federal regulators get automatic authority as a matter of course. Independent mortgage companies have to apply, prove their finances, name their underwriters, and serve a probationary period.

Where lenders add overlays

This topic is about the lender’s own authority, so there is no borrower overlay to name here. The borrower lesson is simpler and it matters: ask who your lender is in these terms. Is the company you are talking to the actual lender, or a broker (agent) working under someone else’s authority? Is it a bank with automatic authority, or a company closing on a prior-approval basis? The answers tell you who actually decides your loan and how fast they can move.

Topic 2: Before a Lender Starts Making Loans

What this section says

Before closing a single VA loan, a first-time lender sends VA an information package: specimen signatures of everyone authorized to sign VA documents, the VA Equal Opportunity Lender Certification (VA Form 26-8812), a letter identifying the corporate address, owners, branch offices, and any lending personnel VA or HUD ever debarred or took adverse action against. VA may also pull a credit report on the lender or interview its principal officers. VA then gives the lender a VA ID number, training on VA loan processing, and access to the handbook itself.

What that means

A lender cannot wake up one morning and start closing VA loans. There is a real application gate, and the gate is different depending on the kind of company. Banks can close immediately. Everyone else closes on VA’s prior approval (slow) until they earn automatic authority. If a brand-new mortgage company tells you they can close your VA loan next week on their own authority, this topic is the reason to ask how, because the handbook says they start out on the prior-approval path.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlays here. This is onboarding paperwork for the lender. The practical takeaway for you is timeline awareness: a lender still on prior-approval status means VA itself reviews your file before closing, which adds days or weeks. A lender with automatic authority controls its own timeline.

Topic 3: Lenders That are Considered Supervised

What this section says

Lenders supervised by those federal entities do not need to ask VA for recognition. A company that wants supervised status without direct federal supervision must be a wholly owned subsidiary or affiliate of a recognized supervised lender, and must document its ownership, capitalization, and legal relationship for VA’s review. Supervised lenders that use agents must renew those agency relationships with VA each year by January 31, and the handbook warns that failure to pay the annual renewal fees “could result in loss of a lender’s automatic processing authority.”

What that means

This is why your bank or credit union can offer VA loans without a long approval story. Their regulator already examines them, so VA trusts their structure. The flip side is that a lender’s supervised status is not permanent or automatic forever. It depends on keeping the supervision, keeping the fees paid, and keeping the agent relationships renewed. When those lapse, the authority can lapse with them.

Where lenders add overlays

Again, this is a lender-side rule, not a borrower overlay. But it answers a question borrowers ask me every year: “Why can the big bank close faster than the small broker shop?” Part of the answer is right here. The bank’s authority is structural. The independent company’s authority is earned, conditional, and renewable.

Topic 4: How a Non-supervised Lender Applies for Automatic Authority

What this section says

The application is a full financial and operational exam: qualified underwriters, working capital or net worth, audited financial statements, a line of credit, permanent investors, a quality control plan, and more (the full checklist is Topic 15). Automatic authority, once granted, works nationwide. And VA can withdraw it during the probationary period “based on poor underwriting and/or consistently careless processing.”

What that means

Think of automatic authority as a pilot’s license. The checkride is long, the first year is supervised closely, and VA watches the landing gear: underwriting quality, submission completeness, and even the lender’s delinquency and foreclosure rates. For you, this is one more reason a lender’s VA experience matters. A company deep into its VA volume has survived the probationary scrutiny. A company brand new to VA is still under the microscope, which can mean extra questions on your file.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay applies to this topic. The connection to your file is indirect but real: lenders that survived this application process tend to have their VA procedures buttoned up, which usually means fewer surprises at closing.

Topic 5: Certifications a Non-supervised Automatic Lender Must Comply With

What this section says

The certifications read like a code of conduct. The lender promises not to close loans as a courtesy for other lenders, and not to close loans for a builder it owns or is affiliated with without VA’s express approval. It promises to tell VA about any corporate, operational, or financial change that could affect its qualifications, and to submit audited financial statements within 120 days of its fiscal year end. All VA-approved underwriters, the topic adds, “must be familiar with the VA Lender’s Handbook, specifically Chapter 4: Credit Underwriting.”

What that means

Two protections here land directly on borrowers. First, the ban on courtesy closings and unapproved affiliate deals is about conflicts of interest: the company deciding your loan should not be doing favors for your builder. Second, the financial health requirements exist so your lender is still standing when your file needs them. A lender that cannot keep $50,000 in working capital or $250,000 in adjusted net worth does not get to keep closing VA loans on its own authority.

Where lenders add overlays

This topic is the reason overlays exist in the first place. VA holds the lender responsible for every automatic loan it closes, and the lender’s own balance sheet is on the line. Overlays are how lenders protect that balance sheet. Understanding this topic turns overlays from a personal insult into a business decision, which is the first step to shopping around it.

Topic 6: How a Non-supervised Automatic Lender Requests Underwriter Approval or Approval to Close Loans Involving an Affiliate

What this section says

New underwriters complete a 1-day (8 hour) training course on underwriter responsibilities, VA underwriting requirements, and VA administrative requirements within 90 days of approval. Training is also required for any underwriter who has not underwritten VA-guaranteed loans in the past 24 months, and underwriters who “consistently approve loans that do not meet VA credit standards will be required to retake this training.” On the affiliate side, a lender that wants to close loans involving an affiliated builder or brokerage must get VA approval with corporate resolutions from both sides promising no preferential underwriting, plus investor letters showing the affiliate’s loans perform no worse than the national average.

What that means

Your loan is not approved by a committee or an algorithm alone. A named human being, approved by VA, signs the loan analysis and certifies the review. That signature is personal. If the underwriter changes jobs, the approval does not follow them. And here is the detail borrowers never hear: a lender cannot keep closing automatically at all if it has no VA-approved underwriter on staff. When a small lender loses its only VA underwriter, its VA pipeline stops until a replacement is approved.

Where lenders add overlays

This topic is the machinery behind the “manual underwrite” conversation. A lender whose underwriters are only set up for automated approvals may simply not have the staff or the appetite to review a file by hand. That is a business decision about their people, not a VA rule about your file. If your file needs a human review, ask whether the lender has underwriters who actually do manual reviews before you assume the answer is no.

Topic 7: How a Supervised or Non-supervised Automatic Lender Requests VA Recognition of an Agent

What this section says

The lender asks VA to recognize each agent relationship, files a corporate resolution describing the agent’s functions, and identifies the agent on every loan’s Report and Certification of Loan Disbursement (VA Form 26-1820). If the agent enters rate locks on the lender’s behalf, the lender must honor them. A conditional purchase agreement, where the lender only buys the agent’s production subject to its own review, is “unacceptable.”

What that means

If you work with a mortgage broker, there is a funding lender behind them, and that lender owns everything the broker does. The broker’s mistake is the lender’s mistake. The broker’s bad data is the lender’s bad data. The lender cannot point at the broker when something goes wrong. This is one of the strongest consumer protections in the chapter, and most borrowers never know it exists. When a broker tells you “that’s the lender’s department,” the handbook says there is no such department. It is all the lender’s department.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay here. The broker-versus-lender distinction does explain one common frustration, though: a broker may quote you one set of guidelines while the sponsoring lender enforces another. When the two disagree, the sponsoring lender’s rules win, because they are the ones signing the guaranty. Always confirm whose guidelines you are actually being judged against.

Topic 8: Mergers and Acquisitions Involving Supervised or Non-supervised Automatic Lenders

What this section says

The surviving entity submits a $100 processing fee plus full information on both companies and the assets being acquired. While VA reviews the submission, whether the surviving company can keep closing automatically depends on the combination: a supervised survivor keeps closing, a nonsupervised one generally cannot until VA decides. And VA can withdraw automatic authority “at any time” during the process if the facts warrant it.

What that means

Your lender is a company, and companies get bought. When that happens to an independent lender, its VA closing authority can vanish overnight until VA blesses the new entity. Your loan does not die, but it may get rerouted to VA prior approval or transferred to another lender, and either path costs time. This is the hidden reason behind some of those “we need two more weeks” phone calls that never get a straight explanation.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay in this topic. The lesson is about lender stability as a selection criterion. All else equal, a lender with deep VA history and stable ownership is less likely to hand you a mid-process surprise than a company in acquisition talks.

Topic 9: Withdrawal of Automatic Authority from Supervised or Non-supervised Automatic Lenders

What this section says

Withdrawal periods scale with the offense: indefinite (loss of qualifying criteria, debarment causes, poor underwriting during probation), 60 days (sloppy underwriting, mishandled verifications, repeated disregard of VA requirements), 180 days (loans that conflict with VA credit standards, hiding material information, misrepresenting VA requirements to veterans), and 1 to 3 years (bounced disbursement checks, improper use of entitlement, helping a veteran sell entitlement to a third party). The misrepresentation examples are specific: dissuading a veteran from seeking a lower rate by falsely claiming VA rules exclude it, charging improper fees and refusing refunds, and deliberately delaying closings.

What that means

This is the chapter’s teeth, and some of the teeth are for you. VA does not just regulate lenders in the abstract. It can suspend a lender for telling veterans things about “VA requirements” that are not true, with the dissuading-a-veteran-from-a-lower-rate example spelled out by name. If a lender ever tells you that VA sets your interest rate, or that VA prohibits shopping for a better deal, that is exactly the misrepresentation this topic punishes. The lender may keep processing loans on a prior-approval basis after withdrawal, so your existing loan is not orphaned, but the message is clear: VA watches how lenders treat veterans, not just how they process paper.

Where lenders add overlays

This topic draws the line between overlays and lies. An overlay is a lender’s own rule, disclosed as the lender’s rule: “we require a 620 score.” A misrepresentation is a lender’s rule dressed up as VA’s: “VA requires a 620 score.” The first is legal and common. The second is the conduct this topic exists to punish. When a lender cites “VA guidelines,” ask which chapter and topic. If they cannot name one, you are hearing an overlay, and if they insist it is VA’s rule when it is not, you are hearing something worse.

Topic 10: Participation Fees for Supervised and Non-supervised Automatic Lenders

What this section says

The fee schedule is modest and it is all on the lender’s side of the ledger:

What that means

None of these fees come out of your pocket. They are the lender’s cost of participating in the program, paid by lender’s check to the Department of Veterans Affairs. I include this topic for one reason: if a lender ever tries to pass a “VA participation fee” or “VA lender fee” through to you at closing, this table is your answer. VA charges the lender, not the veteran.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay here. The watch item is fee padding: legitimate VA-related borrower charges (like the funding fee) are covered in Chapter 8, not here. Anything labeled as a VA lender fee on your side of the closing disclosure deserves a question.

Topic 11: Maintenance of Loan Records

What this section says

The records list is everything: the application, employment and deposit verifications, all credit reports including preliminary ones, sales contracts, letters of explanation, creditor references, correspondence with employers, appraisal and inspection reports, builder change orders, and all closing documents. And the lender “must make these records accessible to VA personnel conducting audit reviews.”

What that means

Your file does not disappear at the closing table. The lender keeps the whole thing for at least two years, even if your loan is sold to another servicer the next month. That paper trail is what VA audits, and it is also what protects you if a dispute comes up about what was verified or disclosed. Keep your own copies too, but know the lender is required to keep theirs.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay in this topic. The borrower angle is record retention on your side: keep your closing package and the key verifications. If a question ever arises about your loan, the lender’s two-year file and your own copies are the evidence.

Topic 12: Lender Access to Training and Information

What this section says

VA’s regional offices run regular training sessions for lenders in their jurisdictions, and web-based training covers credit standards and loan guaranty topics. Lenders are expected to keep contact information current so VA mailings reach them, and each regional office serves as the lender’s primary contact for technical questions. The topic also points lenders to VA’s escalation protocol for resolving policy issues.

What that means

VA expects its lenders to stay current, and it gives them the channels to do it: annual sessions, web-based courses, and a direct line to the regional office. When a loan officer tells you “VA just changed the rule,” this topic is the reason to ask for specifics. Trained lenders can usually point to the actual circular or handbook change. Untrained ones repeat hallway rumors, and hallway rumors cost borrowers deals.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay here. But training gaps are where phantom rules are born. A loan officer who has not kept up with VA training is more likely to enforce an old requirement VA dropped years ago, or to mistake a company policy for a VA rule. Ask how much VA volume your loan officer actually does. Volume is the best proxy for current knowledge.

Topic 13: Calculation of Adjusted Net Worth

What this section says

Adjusted net worth is total assets minus total liabilities minus a list of unacceptable assets: pledged assets, money owed by officers or stockholders, investments in related entities where officers have a personal interest, intangibles like goodwill, hard-to-value assets like art carried above discounted appraised value, and assets used for an officer’s personal enjoyment. In plain terms, VA counts only real, business-use, arm’s-length assets toward the $250,000 net worth alternative from Topic 5.

What that means

This is accounting plumbing, and it exists for your protection. A lender cannot dress up its balance sheet with the owner’s art collection or a loan to its own CEO and call that financial strength. VA strips those out before deciding the company is sound enough to close your loan on its own authority. You will never interact with this calculation directly, but it is part of why a VA lender with automatic authority is a vetted counterparty, not just a website with a rate table.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay. This is purely a lender solvency rule. I mention it because borrowers sometimes wonder why small or new lenders cannot offer VA loans at all. Often the answer is right here: they cannot clear the financial bar yet.

Topic 14: Elements of a Quality Control Plan

What this section says

The QC plan is one of the most detailed exhibits in the chapter. Beyond the audit percentages and re-verifications, it requires: written notice of deficiencies to senior management at least quarterly, prompt corrective action with documentation, reporting of legal violations and false statements to VA, procedures kept current with VA requirement changes, funding fees remitted within 15 days of closing, escrow funds never used for other purposes, no debarred persons employed in origination or underwriting, and on-site branch reviews at least annually. For each loan reviewed, the reviewer also checks that documents were not pre-signed in blank and that verifications never passed through the borrower’s or an interested party’s hands.

What that means

This topic explains something borrowers find baffling: why the lender calls after closing to re-verify your employment, or orders a second credit report on a loan that already funded. That is not the lender being difficult. That is the quality control plan doing its job. At least one in ten loans gets this treatment within 90 days of closing. It also explains why your verifications must go straight from the source to the lender: hand-carried pay stubs and bank statements are exactly what the QC review is designed to catch.

Where lenders add overlays

Quality control is also the quiet engine behind many overlays. When a lender’s QC audits keep flagging the same kind of file, management responds with a new company rule, and that rule becomes the overlay the next borrower hears. So when a lender’s guideline seems stricter than VA’s, it is often a scar from their own QC findings. That does not make it a VA rule, but it does explain why the lender will not bend on it.

Topic 15: Application Checklist for Authority to Close Loans on an Automatic Basis

What this section says

The checklist is the whole application on one page: company experience (2 years and 10 VA loans, or under 2 years and 25 VA loans), principal officer resumes with recent management experience, underwriter nominations with 3 years of mortgage experience including 1 recent year of VA decisions (or an AMP/CRU designation), $50,000 working capital or $250,000 CPA-certified net worth, audited financials current within 6 months, a line of credit of at least $1 million, two permanent investors, a compliant quality control plan, a designated liaison officer, corporate resolutions, a branch and agent list, and the application fee.

What that means

This is the chapter’s bottom line, and it is written for the lender, not for you. But read it as a borrower and it becomes a due-diligence checklist in reverse. The VA expects your lender to have real VA volume, experienced officers, qualified underwriters, real capital, audited books, a million-dollar credit line, investors lined up, and a quality control plan. Those are the credentials behind the words “VA-approved lender.” When you are choosing between lenders, you are choosing between companies that cleared this bar and companies that are still working on it.

Where lenders add overlays

No borrower overlay to name. I will say this, though: a lender that invested this much to earn automatic authority is not going to risk it on a sloppy file. That institutional caution is the soil overlays grow in. The stricter the lender’s internal QC, the more company rules you will hear quoted as if they were VA’s. They are not, and now you know the difference.

Frequently asked questions

These are the questions Chapter 1 itself answers: who is allowed to close your VA loan, who decides it, and what keeps lenders honest. If your question is about your specific situation, the links below point you to the dedicated resource.

What does “automatic authority” mean?

It is VA’s permission for a lender to close VA loans without sending each file to VA for prior approval. Chapter 1, Topic 1 defines it exactly that way. Supervised lenders (banks, credit unions) have it as a matter of course. Other lenders must apply, prove their finances and staffing, and serve a probationary period to earn it.

Is my mortgage broker a VA lender?

Probably not. Chapter 1, Topic 7 says an agent “may also be referred to as a Mortgage Broker,” and the agent works on behalf of a sponsoring lender. The broker takes your application and packages the file, but the sponsoring lender funds the loan, employs the underwriter, and is fully responsible for everything the broker does. Ask who the sponsoring lender is before you get too far into the process.

What is a supervised lender?

A lender already subject to mandatory examination by a federal regulator: the Federal Reserve, FDIC, Comptroller of the Currency, NCUA, or Farm Credit Administration. VA trusts that supervision, so these lenders close VA loans on the automatic basis immediately, with no separate VA approval of their underwriters. A state acting as a lender counts as supervised too.

Can any VA lender close a loan in any state?

Yes. Chapter 1’s comparison table is explicit: both supervised lenders and non-supervised automatic lenders may close loans in any state with no additional VA approval. A lender does not need a physical presence in your state to close your VA loan there.

Which loans must always go to VA for prior approval?

Even lenders with full automatic authority must submit these to VA: joint loans (Veteran with Veteran, or Veteran with non-Veteran), loans to Veterans receiving VA nonservice-connected pension, loans to Veterans with a VA appointed fiduciary, IRRRLs refinancing delinquent VA loans, manufactured home loans (unless the home is permanently affixed and considered real estate under state law), and unsecured loans or loans secured by less than a first lien. Lenders without automatic authority must submit everything except non-delinquent IRRRLs.

Who actually underwrites my VA loan?

A VA-approved underwriter employed by your lender. Chapter 1, Topic 6 requires that every loan closed on the automatic basis be reviewed and approved or rejected by a VA-approved underwriter, who signs the VA Form 26-6393 Loan Analysis to certify the review. For non-supervised lenders, VA approves each underwriter individually, and that approval ends automatically if the underwriter leaves the company.

Can VA take away a lender’s ability to close VA loans?

Yes. Chapter 1, Topic 9 lets VA withdraw automatic authority for proper cause after 30 days notice. The withdrawal can be indefinite, 60 days, 180 days, or 1 to 3 years depending on the offense. Causes range from losing qualifying criteria to sloppy underwriting to misrepresenting VA requirements to veterans. After withdrawal, the lender may still process loans on a prior-approval basis.

What happens to my loan if my lender is bought by another company?

It depends on the kind of lender. For a non-supervised automatic lender, a change in ownership always extinguishes automatic authority unless the new entity is supervised (Chapter 1, Topic 8). Your file may be rerouted through VA prior approval or transferred, and the timeline can slip. Ask directly whether the surviving company’s VA authority is intact.

Why is my lender re-verifying my job after my loan already closed?

That is the quality control plan working as designed. Chapter 1, Topic 14 requires lenders to audit at least ten percent of their VA loans monthly, review selected loans within 90 days of closing, and re-verify employment, deposits, and all sources of funds in writing. A post-closing verification call is normal, not a sign of trouble.

How long does my lender have to keep my loan file?

At least 2 years from the date of loan closing, even if the loan is sold (Chapter 1, Topic 11). The file must include the application, verifications, credit reports, contracts, letters of explanation, appraisal and inspection reports, and all closing documents, and it must be accessible to VA auditors.

Do I pay any of the lender’s VA participation fees?

No. Chapter 1, Topic 10 authorizes VA to collect fees from lenders with automatic authority, and the fee schedule ($200 annual recertification, $100 per agent, $500 application fee, and similar) is the lender’s cost of doing VA business. None of it is charged to you. If you see a “VA lender fee” on your side of the closing disclosure, ask about it.

Why was my loan sent to VA for approval instead of being decided by my lender?

Two possibilities. Either your loan is one of the types that always requires prior approval (joint loans, delinquent IRRRL refinance, certain manufactured homes, and the others listed above), or your lender chose to submit it because its own underwriting staff could not resolve an issue. The handbook allows that second path but warns lenders not to use it “to shift the burden of a loan rejection to VA.”

What training do VA underwriters actually get?

Newly approved underwriters must complete a 1-day (8 hour) course on underwriter responsibilities, VA underwriting requirements, and VA administrative requirements within 90 days of approval. Training is also required for underwriters who have not underwritten VA loans in the past 24 months, and underwriters who consistently approve loans that miss VA credit standards must retake it.

Related reading: the rest of the handbook series

Chapter 1 covers the lenders. These guides cover the rules those lenders apply to your file:

• VA Handbook Chapter 4: Credit Underwriting: the full walkthrough of how VA judges your credit, income, debts, and residual income.
• VA Handbook Chapter 12: Minimum Property Requirements: what the property itself must meet before VA will guarantee the loan.
• VA Loan Minimum Property Requirements: the borrower-friendly guide to MPRs.
• How to Get a VA Home Loan With Bad Credit: the practical guide to approval options when credit is the obstacle.
• Letter of Explanation: Examples and Format: help preparing the explanation letter your underwriter may ask for.

Sources

• VA Pamphlet 26-7 (VA Lenders Handbook), Chapter 1: Lender Approval Guidelines, Topics 1 through 15. Current as published on the VA’s official KnowVA Knowledge Base (all topics Change Date February 1, 2019, “revised in its entirety”; no later transmittal of change revises Chapter 1): KnowVA Knowledge Base portal. Note: KnowVA serves article text through a JavaScript application, so the per-topic KnowVA article ID for Chapter 1 could not be independently verified from outside the portal. The verbatim text used here matches the official February 1, 2019 revision.
• Official chapter text cross-checked against the lender-hosted copy of the February 1, 2019 revision: Chapter 1: Lender Approval Guidelines (PDF).
• Transmittal of Change 40 (Chapter 3, Topics 1-6) and Transmittal of Change 41 (Chapter 5), both dated 05/14/24, reviewed to confirm no Chapter 1 changes: tenaco.com agency guides archive.
• Transmittal of Change 46 (February 27, 2026), revising Chapter 12 only, reviewed to confirm no Chapter 1 changes.

I am a mortgage loan originator, not the VA. This article walks through the VA Lenders Handbook as of the last-reviewed date above. Stories are illustrations based on situations I see in my pipeline, with names, companies, and identifying details changed. Lender practices vary, and final eligibility always depends on the lender underwriting your file.