One of our most under utilized, yet most powerful benefits available!
One of our most powerful VA benefits, yet why do only about 30% of those eligible take advantage of it? Some key points of the VA Home Loan Guaranty benefit include:
The VA doesn't have a Maximum Debt to Income ratio (DTI) like Conventional loans! The VA looks at "Residual" income, or the income left over after paying the bills in accordance with a chart published in VA Pamphlet 26-7, chapter 4. We've seen VA home loans approved with DTI equivalents as high as 65%; whereas, Conventional loans consider a 36% DTI stable and up to 45% DTI's as maximum.
Did you that know the VA Home Loan Guaranty is the only mortgage that allows you to buy a home while consolidating your monthly debt? This unique benefit helps you eliminate high-interest credit card payments while simplifying your finances, offering higher eligible home loan amounts. Learn more about how this powerful tool can help you achieve homeownership and financial freedom!
A copy of your VA COE is required to take advantage of your VA Home Loan Guaranty benefit. A VA approved lender can obtain a copy or you can download your own directly from https://www.va.gov/ as per this video:
Your VA Benefits partnered with Revolution Mortgage, a leading Military Lender serving the heroes who have served all of us. "Our goal is to offer homeownership opportunities to the communities we serve, with a special focus on helping our veterans achieve their homeownership aspirations and financial objectives," said Corey Gile, Reliable Loan Team manager, powered by Revolution Mortgage, JBLM area.
(Revolution Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS# 1686046 | Legal & Privacy | State Licensing)
Community based centers established by Congress in 1979 and part of the VA system providing readjustment counseling for successful military to civilian transition. Also provides individual, group, marriage and family counseling as well as a wide range of social and psychological services!
"At VA Puget Sound Health Care System, our health care teams are deeply experienced and guided by the needs of Veterans, their families, and caregivers. Find a health facility near you, and manage your health online. Sign up for community events and updates."
The Veteran and Military Spouse Talent Engagement Program (VMSTEP) provides employment readiness assistance and outreach to transitioning service members, Veterans, and eligible military spouses while advocating the use of special hiring authorities, employment programs, and Veteran retention strategies to help VA become the employer of
The Veteran and Military Spouse Talent Engagement Program (VMSTEP) provides employment readiness assistance and outreach to transitioning service members, Veterans, and eligible military spouses while advocating the use of special hiring authorities, employment programs, and Veteran retention strategies to help VA become the employer of choice for Veterans and military spouses.
Go to VMSTEP "Job Seekers" page
If you're a veteran, you have a couple of different tools that can give you an edge in getting a federal civil service job: veterans' preference points and Veterans' Recruitment Appointment rule.
By law, veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty during certain specified time periods or in
If you're a veteran, you have a couple of different tools that can give you an edge in getting a federal civil service job: veterans' preference points and Veterans' Recruitment Appointment rule.
By law, veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over non-veterans both in hiring from competitive lists and in retention during reductions in force.
The goal of the veterans' preference points is not to place a veteran in every vacant federal job. However, preference does provide a uniform method by which qualified veterans receive special consideration for federal employment.
Preference applies in hiring from civil service examinations, for most excepted service jobs, and when agencies make temporary appointments or use direct hire and delegated examining authorities from the U. S. Office of Personnel Management.
To be entitled to preference, a veteran must meet the eligibility requirements in Section 2108 of Title 5, United States Code. This means:
Five points are added to the passing examination score or rating of a veteran who served:
Ten points are added to the passing examination score of:
If you meet the criteria for preference and achieve a score of 70 or higher, either by a written examination or an evaluation of your experience and education, you will have whichever point preference you qualify for added to your rating.
Entitlement to veterans' preference does not guarantee a job. There are many ways an agency can fill a vacancy other than by appointment from a list of eligible candidates.
Under VRA, a you can be appointed to a white-collar position through GS-11 without having to compete with other applicants.
The VRA is open to you if you are a disabled veteran who served on active duty during a war or major campaign and you have left the service under honorable conditions within three years.
Whether you want to polish your resume, find veteran job fairs in your area or connect with employers looking to hire veterans, Military.com can help. Subscribe to Military.com to have job postings, guides, advice and more delivered directly to your inbox.
Jim Absher is Military.com's former benefits editor and columnist. He joined the Navy to see the world and later realized the world is two-thirds water. He also worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs in field offices and Washington, D.C. before coming to Military.com in 2015.
The Department of Veterans Affairs paid senior executives at its headquarters $10.8 million in incentive bonuses last year -- funding meant to keep employees in critically understaffed positions -- and now it faces issues recouping the money, the department's top watchdog said in a report Thursday.
The amount is $1 million more than the d
The Department of Veterans Affairs paid senior executives at its headquarters $10.8 million in incentive bonuses last year -- funding meant to keep employees in critically understaffed positions -- and now it faces issues recouping the money, the department's top watchdog said in a report Thursday.
The amount is $1 million more than the department acknowledged last September when Secretary Denis McDonough said 170 senior executives at the VA's Central Office in Washington, D.C., erroneously received $9.7 million in bonuses under a retention bonus program authorized by the PACT Act.
The department inspector general's report found that 182 senior executives at VA headquarters received the nearly $11 million in bonuses, ranging in size from about $39,000 to more than $100,000 for each of seven executives in the Veterans Health Administration, or VHA.
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According to the report, the under secretaries for health and benefits proceeded with the awards despite the concerns of the department's human resources officers and other staff.
VA Inspector General Michael Missal found that Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal failed repeatedly to tell McDonough about the bonuses for VHA senior executives, while at the same time keeping him apprised of payments to field employees. His counterpart at the Veterans Benefits Administration, or VBA, Under Secretary Joshua Jacobs, provided McDonough memos describing plans to pay the bonuses -- known as critical skills incentives, or CSIs -- to senior executives at the headquarters, as well as field offices.
Elnahal approved 148 bonuses, while Jacobs signed off on 34.
"The OIG found the award of CSIs to nearly all VHA and VBA central office executives lacked adequate justification and was inconsistent with the PACT Act and VA policy. This was due, in part, to breakdowns in leadership and controls at multiple levels of VA," the report stated.
The PACT Act was signed in August 2022 to expand health care and benefits for millions of veterans sickened by exposure to burn pits and other environmental pollutants while serving overseas in support of U.S. operations.
The legislation authorized the VA to hire or provide incentives for employees in hard-to-fill posts, such as human resources, information technology, law enforcement and housekeeping, to ensure the department had sufficient staff to support the influx of veterans newly eligible for health care and benefits.
Under the legislative provisions, the VA has paid out more than $20 million in incentive payments to employees, including roughly half to the senior executives in its central office.
The inspector general noted that McDonough was not aware that nearly all VHA executives at the headquarters had been awarded bonuses until Sept. 13, when the VA's chief financial officer, Jon Rychalski, told him. The secretary announced a week later that the department would cancel the payments, recoup the money and have the inspector general investigate the matter.
At the time, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said the department planned to work with executives to recoup the money, pledging to establish repayment schedules to ensure that no employees faced economic hardship as a result.
In its report, however, Missal said that clawing back the money presents a challenge, given that much of it already has been spent. Although an investigation into the recovery process was beyond the scope of the probe into the critical skills incentive bonuses, at least two senior executives retired from the Veterans Benefits Administration as a result, the report noted.
Emails between VA Chief of Staff Kimberly Jackson and Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Mike Frueh, obtained by Military.com through a Freedom of Information Act request, show the level of despondency and frustration felt by senior executives over the botched payments.
One senior executive said recoupment occurred without their awareness, "resulting in massive debt."
"I cannot express my frustration and disappointment enough. Having the CSI pulled was an issue, especially given the disparity between the treatment of [central office] staff and field leadership. That money had been a blessing initially, and earmarked to cover medical [expenses] which insurance doesn't cover. Instead, it has now become a curse," one senior executive, listed as [Senior Executive Service] 2, was quoted as saying.
"I don't mind when the organization makes mistakes, but what high-performing organization treats their employees this way?" asked another senior executive, [Senior Executive Service] 1, after noticing their paycheck had been docked to recoup taxes paid on the bonuses.
In the report, the inspector general made eight recommendations to officials, noting the department needed to resolve potential conflicts of interest and improve oversight of critical skills incentives and that McDonough should "take whatever administrative actions, if any, he deems appropriate related to the personnel involved."
In response, VA officials quibbled with the report's language but concurred with all eight recommendations. According to the VA's response, the department's Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection plans to work with the Office of General Counsel Ethics Specialty Team to determine whether disciplinary or nondisciplinary action will be taken against those involved...
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Your VA Benefits is a non-profit entity dedicated to empowering veterans to achieve their full potential. We are passionate about helping veterans overcome the challenges they face and providing them with the tools and resources they need to succeed.
We offer a path to supporting veterans in their transition to civilian life, including career training, education assistance, and mental health services. Our programs are designed to meet the unique needs of veterans and provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive.
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