HR-1815 — VA Home Loan Program Reform Act

This bill became law on 2025-03-03 as Public Law No. 119-31.

The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.

YourVoice.Now Summary

Your MoneyCivil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityCorporate Benefits

Behind on a VA home loan? The VA can now buy up to 25% of it to stop a foreclosure.

Your Money

Foreclosure help for veteran homeowners — VA covers up to 25%

A veteran who is behind on a VA-guaranteed mortgage can have the VA pay the lender part of the unpaid balance, up to 25%. The VA then holds a second claim on the home, behind the main mortgage, that the veteran pays back later.

Bigger help if you missed payments after March 2020 — 30%

The cap rises to 30% for anyone who missed a payment between March 1, 2020 and May 1, 2025. A larger share of the balance can be covered for those borrowers.

Options your lender must offer before the VA buys the loan

The VA must set a required order of options a lender has to offer before a foreclosure. The VA cannot buy the whole loan, or use several other powers, until the veteran has been through that order.

Missed taxes, insurance and homeowner dues can be covered

The payment goes first to what the borrower is behind on. The VA can decide that this includes overdue property taxes, insurance premiums, or homeowner association dues.

Second round of help after a declared disaster

The VA can normally make only one partial claim per loan. A second one is allowed if the borrower missed a payment during a major disaster declared by the President, or in the 120 days after it.

Money for homeless veteran services — $344 million for 2025 and 2026

Congress set $344 million a year for programs that serve homeless veterans in 2025 and 2026. The law titles this an increase over the amount set in earlier law.

You owe the VA back for its loss after a later default

If the loan defaults after a partial claim, the veteran owes the VA whatever the VA lost. It is collected like any other debt owed to the federal government, setting aside a different rule in current law.

Your remaining VA home loan benefit can be cut

After such a default, the VA can also shrink the amount of home loan guarantee the veteran has left. That can make a future VA-backed loan smaller or harder to get.

Civil Liberties

Ways to challenge VA foreclosure-help decisions — no court, no appeal

Decisions the VA makes about paying a lender or granting a partial claim are final. They cannot be taken to court, and the law says they are not benefit decisions, which keeps them out of the usual VA appeal process.

Transparency & Accountability

Random audits after the VA pays a lender

The VA can pay a lender based on the lender's own written promise that it followed the rules. To check that, the VA must run audits on a random sample of loans after the money goes out.

Time limit on the new program — five years, then it ends

The VA cannot make any new partial claim more than five years after the law took effect. Claims already made are not affected.

End date for homeless veteran funding — money approved only through 2030

Before this law, the homeless veteran funding line had no end date. It is now written to run only through fiscal year 2030.

Report on veterans' disadvantage hiring real estate agents — 90 days

Within 90 days, the VA must tell the House and Senate veterans' committees how it will keep VA-loan buyers from being at a disadvantage when hiring a real estate agent or broker. The strategy may include changing a VA regulation.

Normal limits on spending public money — waived for these payments

The VA can run this program without following other laws that normally govern how federal money is spent. Only a law written to limit this program specifically would still apply.

Corporate Benefits

Lenders paid by the VA for required paperwork

Lenders must prepare, sign, and record the documents a partial claim needs. The VA has to pay them for that work, at an amount the VA decides.

More about this bill

If you have a VA-backed home loan and fall behind, there is a new way to keep your house. The VA can now buy part of what you owe and pay your lender. This is called a partial claim. It can cover up to 25% of your unpaid loan balance. Veterans who missed a payment between March 1, 2020 and May 1, 2025 can get up to 30%. The money goes first to what you are behind on. That can include missed taxes, insurance, or homeowner dues. Your lender must offer you a set order of options before the VA buys your whole loan. This help is not free money. It becomes a second claim on your home that you pay back later. If you default after that, you owe the VA for what it loses. The VA can also cut the home loan benefit you have left. You cannot take these VA decisions to court or through the usual VA appeal. The program is open for five years. The law also sets $344 million a year for homeless veteran programs in 2025 and 2026. That drops to $257.7 million a year through 2030.

Congressional Summary

VA Home Loan Program Reform Act This act authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to take certain actions in cases of default on home loans under the VA home loan program, establishes a partial claim program, and temporarily increases amounts authorized for transitional housing and supportive services for veterans who are experiencing homelessness. First, the act authorizes the VA to pay the holder of a loan guaranteed by the VA an amount necessary to avoid the foreclosure of the loan, provided that the holder of the loan and the veteran obligated on the loan execute documents to ensure the VA obtains a secured interest in the property covered by the loan. The VA must prescribe loss mitigation procedures to help prevent the foreclosure of such a home loan. The VA may not take specified administrative actions (e.g., consent to the modification of loan terms) until the sequence of mitigation options has been completed. Next, the act establishes a five-year Partial Claim Program under which the VA may make a partial claim (purchase a portion of the indebtedness) on VA loans for primary residences that are in default or at imminent risk of default. Individuals who default on loans for which the VA has made a partial claim under this program must be liable to the VA for any loss resulting from the default. Further, the VA must report to Congress on its strategy to ensure that veterans who purchase homes under the VA home loan program are not at a disadvantage when attempting to secure representation by a real estate agent or broker. Finally, the act temporarily increases the amounts authorized for the VA’s Grant and Per Diem program for FY2025 and FY2026. (The program provides funding to public or nonprofit private entities that provide housing and supportive services to veterans experiencing homelessness.)

Legislative Subjects

Accounting and auditingCongressional oversightGovernment lending and loan guaranteesReal estate businessVeterans' loans, housing, homeless programs

Details

Congress: 119th
Chamber: House
Status: summarized
Action: Introduced in House
Action Date: 2025-03-03
Date Added: 2026-07-23
Source: Congress.gov →

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