Streamline Your VA Loans MyPerfectMortgage's VA IRRRL Program

You’ve served your country and made the most of your VA benefits by purchasing a home with a VA loan. It may be time to refinance your current loan to make it more affordable through a streamlined, simple process.

A VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL) provides an efficient way to lower your interest rate and monthly mortgage payments, using less documentation than your current VA loan required. Similar to the VA purchase loan, it’s meant to help active-duty military, veterans, and their surviving spouses finance homes affordably.

What is a VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan?

After you purchase your home, you have the option to refinance your mortgage. When you refinance, you replace your current loan with a new one, which comes with various benefits depending on the refinance type.

With the VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan (IRRRL, pronounced “Earl” for short), those who purchased a house with a VA loan can refinance to reduce their interest rate and lower the amount paid on their loan, all through a streamlined process.

Like your original VA loan, a VA IRRRL is backed by the government through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It was created to make it easier for those eligible to refinance their existing loans and make them as affordable as possible.

Backed by the VA, lenders are able to offer VA IRRRLs with approvals that use much of the same documentation from your current mortgage. This is simpler than getting a purchase loan, while still getting the benefits of a new interest rate and terms.

With the VA IRRRL there is often no appraisal, income verification, or minimum credit score required, and the VA funding fee is reduced or eliminated.

How to Get a VA IRRRL

To learn whether a VA IRRRL is the best option for refinancing your home, connect with us. To get you started, we’ve outlined the steps and documentation needed to help you understand the process.

The Refinancing Process

We can help you assess whether your current VA loan’s interest rate is higher than market rates. If it is, we’ll explain your options for refinancing and see if a VA IRRRL can lower your interest rate enough to make your home loan more affordable.

If you’ve paid at least six months of mortgage payments and it’s been about seven months or more since your current mortgage closed, you may be eligible. We’ll assess the documentation used for your current loan to see if any further documents are required. 

We’ll also discuss the new potential terms you qualify for and your options, guiding you through each step until we can close your new refinance loan. With the VA IRRRL, the entire process is often completed in less than a month.

VA IRRRL Requirements to Meet

These are the common requirements often needed to qualify for a VA IRRRL. If you have questions about these requirements, we’re here to help.

As you already have documentation on file from your current VA loan, you won’t need as much to qualify this time around. This makes the qualification requirements easier to reach with a “low-doc” loan such as this. To refinance, you’ll need the following:

• Your Certificate of Eligibility (CoE). You can typically either share the one you used for your original VA loan or request that we get it from the VA’s online portal.
• A current mortgage statement for the VA loan you have now. You’ll need to show you’re current on payments and haven’t had more than one 30-day late payment  within the past year.
• Employment verification, but you likely don’t need income verification.

• That you’re able to pay the VA funding fee, which can be waived in certain circumstances.
• That you currently or previously occupied the property as your primary residence.
• There needs to be enough financial benefit for you to refinance, meaning that (in most cases) your new rate needs to be lower and your monthly payment needs to be less than your last month’s loan payment.

VA IRRRL FAQs

Your home is a major investment. It’s ok to have questions about refinancing it. We’ve compiled answers to the frequently asked ones, but don’t hesitate to ask more.