Education
The 0.5% funding fee (and who skips it)
The VA funding fee for an IRRRL is 0.5% of the loan amount. It can be financed into the new loan rather than paid in cash.
Some borrowers pay nothing. The fee is waived entirely for veterans receiving VA disability compensation, for Purple Heart recipients, and for eligible surviving spouses.
One important detail our calculator handles correctly: the funding fee does not count toward the 36-month recoupment test. Only your other closing costs do. Some calculators get this wrong and make a refinance look worse than it is.
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