Avoiding Foreclosure as a Veteran
The wait is over! The Veterans Administration has approved and rolled out the long-awaited partial claim. This was approved on June 18th and lenders have until 11/28/2026 to fully implement. But its here!! Hooray!
Fortunately, the VA offered training classes the first two weeks of the Partial Claim roll out, and I was able to be a part of them.
I would guess that most lenders will be fully onboarded by August, but just knowing that’s its going to available shortly will hopefully provide a sense of relief for our Veterans. In the meantime, please you may call our office and we can see if you are eligible and call your lender together to either get you in review or get a better idea of your lenders time frame of when they have onboarded the new VA partial claim. The VA bulletin and link: VA Help To Avoid Foreclosure | Veterans Affairs
How can I avoid foreclosure?
There are 7 general ways you can try to avoid a foreclosure.Our VA loan technicians can help you figure out which option is best for you. Contact a VA loan technician at 877-827-3702. Or you can learn more about your options for avoiding foreclosure from our video.
These are your options for trying to avoid foreclosure:
Repayment plan: If you’ve missed a few mortgage payments, this plan lets you go back to making your regular payments, with an added amount each month to cover the ones you’ve missed.
Special forbearance: This plan gives you some extra time to repay the missed mortgage payments. Missed payments aren’t added to the end of your loan. You must contact your servicer to discuss how you’ll make payments after the special forbearance ends.
Loan modification: Sometimes you need a fresh start. This plan lets you add the missed mortgage payments and any related legal costs to your total loan balance. You and your servicer then come up with a new mortgage payment schedule. Note: Due to rising interest rates, the modified payment amount could increase.
Partial claim: This option lets us work with your servicer to pay them the amount needed to bring your loan current on any missed mortgage payments. Then you pay the partial claim back when the loan is paid off or you sell your home. Before you can get a partial claim, you must have successfully completed a 3-month trial payment plan. This means you were able to pay the mortgage on time for 3 straight months. You must work with your servicer to begin the Partial Claim program. Servicers have until November 28, 2026, to implement the partial claim into their systems. Work with your servicer to determine the best foreclosure avoidance option for you.
Extra time to arrange a private sale: If you need to sell your home, this plan lets you delay a foreclosure so you have time to sell.
Short sale: If you owe more money than your house is worth, your servicer might agree to a short sale. This means the servicer will accept the total proceeds from the home sale (even if it’s less than the full amount you owe on the mortgage) as full payment of the debt you owe. Note: This option could result in a loss or reduction in your future home loan benefit. Contact a VA loan technician at 877-827-3702 for more details.
Deed in lieu of foreclosure: This plan lets you avoid the foreclosure process by signing over the deed to the home to your servicer. The home will then belong to the servicer. Note: This option could result in a loss or reduction in your future home loan benefit. Contact a VA loan technician at 877-827-3702 for more details.
By: Shelley Doran - Sr. HUD Housing Counselor, Compliance Supervisor, All Things Homes Co-Founder