There are definitely a lot of things that need to change especially with how the US treats its veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for instance has always been among the hottest issues during presidential elections. Candidates from various parties have different ideas on how to improve the treatment of veterans.
Aside from healthcare which is a huge issue among veterans, housing is also another pressing issue that is yet to be properly dealt with. Predatory lenders have driven vets out of their homes. They are given mortgage loan options that are way beyond what they can afford. As a result, their homes were repossessed, and they became homeless.
As of 2018 though, a new policy was implemented that puts an end to this practice. The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act aimed to provide protection to veterans against lending practices that are predatory in nature.
With the help of this policy, vets are protected against the dangers of having to refinance their home loans repeatedly. This also includes the increase of the original loan due to severely high interest rates, closing cost and other refinancing expenses. Through this policy, vets are given the chance to meet their personal goals and take advantage of the economic opportunities available. It also protects them from making decisions that could further harm them.
To ensure this practice, the VA has provided specific standards for refinancing loan providers. If they have failed to meet the requirements specified in the act, the VA will not guarantee those loans. Vets are also given more information on how to clearly understand the refinancing cost and its overall impact on their financial standing. This helps ensure that they won’t come up with a wrong decision in the end.
Protection guaranteed
This policy was created mainly to provide increased protection among the vets. VA officials believe that without this kind of policy, vets won’t have protection from predators. They will keep doing the same actions through aggressive lending which will just hurt vets in the long run.
Without this policy, it would take vets 5 years just to break-even on refinancing. It remains a huge burden for them. Through this rule, no refinancing would be permitted during the first 6 months of a home loan to make sure vets are given more protection.
Although this is a sound policy, legislative action to enshrine the protection is still necessary. With a more polarized Congress than ever before, this policy is already a huge win for now.
To ensure that they follow the policy set by the VA, vets should just stick with a list of recommended online VA lenders that have been screened and were deemed safe for vets to get loans from.
We still have a long way to go when it comes to the protection of vets. Housing is just one of the many issues that the government still needs to address.
