Your VA payment with the 2025 funding fee financed in, and no monthly mortgage insurance
| Down Payment | First Use | Subsequent Use |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% | 2.15% | 3.30% |
| 5% – 9.99% | 1.50% | 1.50% |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% |
The fee is a percentage of the loan amount. Exempt borrowers pay 0% regardless of down payment or usage.
| Exemption | Details |
|---|---|
| Service-connected disability | Veterans receiving (or entitled to receive) VA disability compensation |
| Purple Heart recipients | Active-duty service members with a Purple Heart, exempt at closing |
| Surviving spouses | Eligible surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability |
| Note on branches | Since 2020 the fee is identical for all service branches, including Guard and Reserves. You can also pay it in cash at closing instead of financing it |
VA loans let eligible veterans and service members buy with zero down and no monthly mortgage insurance, which is the single biggest cost advantage in American mortgage lending. The catch is a one-time funding fee, usually financed into the loan, that most other calculators ignore. This tool applies the correct 2025 fee for your situation and shows the payment you'll actually make.
Base loan = home price − down payment. The funding fee is a percentage of that base loan, set by your down payment and whether it's your first VA loan: 2.15% for first use with less than 5% down, 3.30% for subsequent use, dropping to 1.50% at 5% down and 1.25% at 10%. Total loan = base + fee. Monthly principal and interest uses the standard amortization formula, M = P × (r/12) ÷ (1 − (1 + r/12)−n), on the total loan. There's no PMI or MIP line at all; the monthly payment is just P&I plus taxes and insurance divided by 12.
Enter the price and your down payment (percent and dollar fields stay in sync). Choose first or subsequent use, and tick the exemption box if you receive VA disability compensation, which zeroes out the fee. Results update as you type. Try adding a 5% down payment to see how much the fee rate drop saves you; on subsequent use it cuts the fee by more than half.
A $400,000 home with $0 down on a first VA loan carries a 2.15% funding fee: $8,600 on the $400,000 base, for a total loan of $408,600. At 6.25% over 30 years, principal and interest is $2,516 a month. Add $250 in property tax and $125 in insurance and the full payment is about $2,891. A conventional buyer with the same numbers would be paying PMI on top; a VA borrower isn't.
Veterans, active-duty service members, many National Guard and Reserve members, and some surviving spouses. The usual thresholds are 90 days of active service during wartime, 181 days during peacetime, or six years in the Guard or Reserves. You prove it with a Certificate of Eligibility (COE), which lenders can usually pull online in minutes.
Yes. VA entitlement can be split, so plenty of people keep one VA loan on a former home and use remaining entitlement to buy the next one, often after a military move. The second loan counts as subsequent use, so the funding fee jumps to 3.30% if you put less than 5% down.
Not if you have full entitlement, and that's been true since 2020. The VA will back a loan of any size with zero down; your income, credit, and the lender's appetite set the practical cap. If you have reduced entitlement from an existing VA loan, county conforming limits come back into play.
Yes, in one common case: you paid the fee, then later received a service-connected disability rating with an effective date before your loan closed. The VA refunds the fee, and if it was financed, the refund is applied against your loan balance. Contact your lender or regional VA loan center to start the claim.