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Estimate how much the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) can advance to cure the arrears on your delinquent VA-backed mortgage under the new VA Partial Claim Program. The claim is a 0%-interest subordinate lien with no monthly payment, repaid only when you sell, refinance, or pay off the loan.
What is the VA partial claim program?
Launched June 15, 2026, the VA Partial Claim Program helps veterans cure delinquent VA-backed mortgage arrears. The VA advances funds to bring your loan current as a 0%-interest subordinate lien. This replaces the expired VASP program (ended May 1, 2025). The maximum claim is capped at 25% of your unpaid principal balance (30% if the arrears include COVID-era debt from March 1, 2020 – May 1, 2025). You must first complete a 3-month trial payment plan to show you can afford the original payment going forward.
Who qualifies for a VA partial claim?
Eligibility requirements: 1. You have a VA-guaranteed loan on your primary residence. 2. You are delinquent and have a documented financial hardship. 3. You have completed (or commit to complete) a 3-month trial payment plan. 4. This is your first VA partial claim (exception for disaster-affected areas). 5. You can afford the original monthly payment after the claim cures the arrears. The program sunsets around July 30, 2030. Servicers must implement it by November 28, 2026.
VA partial claim vs FHA partial claim: the critical distinction
The VA Partial Claim is often confused with the FHA partial claim (different loan type, different rules). FHA partial claims apply to FHA-insured loans and have separate thresholds and repayment structures. If you have a VA-guaranteed loan, use this calculator. If you have an FHA loan, the FHA partial claim rules apply and involve different caps and terms. The VA program is unique in offering 0% interest with no monthly payment on the subordinate lien.
What the numbers actually mean for you
A cure for the past, not a discount on the future
The partial claim fixes exactly one thing: the arrears. Your rate, your term, and your monthly payment come out the other side untouched. If the hardship that caused the delinquency is over, that is perfect, you keep a payment that was working before. If you still cannot afford the original payment, this is the wrong tool, and the 3-month trial plan exists precisely to surface that before the VA commits funds.
Authorized by the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act signed 30 July 2025, the program opened for submissions on 15 June 2026 and replaces the VASP purchase program that ended in May 2025. It sunsets around 30 July 2030, so it is a five-year window, not a permanent fixture.
The 30% window and the one-shot rule
Two eligibility details do most of the filtering. First, the cap: arrears that include any payment missed between March 2020 and May 2025 qualify for the 30%-of-UPB ceiling instead of 25%, which mostly matters to borrowers with very large delinquencies relative to their balance.
Second, you get one partial claim per loan, ever (a narrow exception exists for federally declared disaster areas), and prior COVID-era help counts: a VAPCP partial claim or COVID Refund Modification on the same loan disqualifies you. Check your servicing history before building a plan around this program, because a declined claim after three trial payments is three months you could have spent on the next option.
The lien is real money, just patient money
It is easy to hear '0% interest, no monthly payment' as 'forgiven'. It is not. Marcus's $18,000 sits as a junior lien and comes off his sale proceeds or gets rolled into any future refinance. On a $400,000 sale years later, he nets $18,000 less than a neighbour who never fell behind, no more, no less, because 0% means the number never grew.
That is still an exceptional deal compared to every private alternative, which is why the honest advice is speed: servicer backlogs are real, the implementation deadline for servicers was 28 November 2026, and trial plans take three months. Starting the conversation with your servicer early is the only part of this you control.
Where the partial claim sits in the servicer's playbook
Loss mitigation is a waterfall, not a menu. Servicers work down an ordered list: reinstatement, repayment plan, partial claim, loan modification, and only then the exits nobody wants. The partial claim's slot matters: it is the last option that preserves your original rate, which in a higher-rate market is worth protecting fiercely.
A modification that cures the same arrears by re-amortizing at today's rates can raise your payment for decades. So when you call the servicer, the question is not 'what can you do for me' but 'do I qualify for the partial claim specifically', because the representative's default path and your best path are not always the same one. Write down the name, date, and answer from every call; if the file goes sideways, that log is your escalation case.
How the partial claim math works
The VA advances the smaller of two numbers to your servicer: your actual past-due amount, or a cap set as a percentage of your unpaid principal balance, 25% normally, 30% if any missed payment falls in the COVID-era window (1 March 2020 to 1 May 2025).
That advance brings the mortgage current in one transaction and becomes a 0% interest lien on the property, repaid only when you sell, refinance, or pay the loan off. Your monthly payment does not change, which is why the program requires proof you can afford it.
Calculation Steps:
- Enter your unpaid principal balance (UPB) and total arrears (missed principal, interest, taxes, insurance; late fees and NSF charges are excluded by VA rules).
- The calculator picks the cap: 25% of UPB standard, 30% if arrears touch the COVID-era window.
- Your claim is the lesser of the cap and the post-trial-plan arrears; if arrears exceed the cap, the loan falls out of partial-claim eligibility and into the next loss-mitigation step.
- The result assumes you complete the mandatory 3-month trial payment plan at your ORIGINAL payment before the claim is finalised.
Worked example
Marcus, a veteran, owes $250,000 on his VA loan and is $18,000 behind after a spell of unemployment through early 2025.
Because part of that delinquency sits inside the COVID-era window, his cap is 30% of $250,000 = $75,000, far above his $18,000 arrears.
The VA advances $18,000 to his servicer; his mortgage is current again the same day. A $18,000, 0%-interest lien is recorded against the house.
He makes three on-time trial payments at his normal amount to lock it in. The lien costs him nothing monthly and comes due only when he eventually sells or refinances.
Input definitions
Review the glossary of terms used in the calculation model below. Click on highlighted links to read more in-depth definitions in our financial glossary:
| Parameter | Definition & Context |
|---|---|
| Unpaid Principal Balance | What you still owe on the VA-guaranteed mortgage before arrears. The 25%/30% claim cap is computed on this figure. |
| Total Arrearage | Missed principal, interest, and escrow amounts. VA rules exclude late fees and NSF charges from the claimable total. |
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