WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) opened a program to help prevent Veterans with VA-guaranteed loans from losing their homes to foreclosure. The new Partial Claim Program will allow some Veterans struggling to pay their mortgages to defer past-due payments to the end of their loans.
“The VA Partial Claim Program will help Veterans avoid foreclosures,” said Steve Sharpe, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC). “VA’s final guidance is an improvement over the proposal and incorporates our recommendations to help homeowners keep their homes and pay off their mortgages.”
Mortgage servicers, however, are not required to offer the new partial claim program until late November of this year. As a result, until November, Veterans may face foreclosure and payment increases rather than receiving the promised relief.
“VA must direct mortgage servicers to refrain from proceeding with foreclosures on VA loans until the company’s partial claim program is operational. It also should direct servicers not to offer payment increase modifications to borrowers who will be eligible for partial claims,” said Sharpe. “Veterans must not lose their homes or face a significantly higher mortgage payment because their servicer has not yet implemented the VA’s new program.”
Advocates also call on the VA to take further steps to improve the partial claim program, including providing help to the children and other heirs of Veteran borrowers and permitting borrowers who have been impacted by a disaster to put their payments on the back end of the mortgage for a second time
Related Resources
- Press release: House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee Discusses Lowering Housing Costs for Veteran Families, March 26, 2026
- Press release: New Mortgage Relief Law Will Help Thousands of Veterans Avoid Foreclosure, July 31, 2025
Support NCLC
Please support NCLC's work to advance consumer rights and economic justice with a tax-deductible contribution today!
Donate