OIG finds exempt veterans being charged VA home loan funding fees

Federal Issues Department of Veterans Affairs Mortgages OIG

On June 6, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report concluding that the VA improperly charged exempt veterans VA home loan funding fees. According to the OIG, from 2012 through 2017, the VA charged approximately 72,900 exempt veterans around $286.4 million in funding fees, which represents 3 percent of the total amount of funding fees collected during that time. The OIG reports that, while the Certificate of Eligibility (COE) that the VA produces is intended to assist lenders in identifying the exempt veterans, “many COEs reflected an outdated, incorrect, or missing exemption status resulting in veterans being incorrectly charged a funding fee.”

Additionally, the OIG found that the VA does not have a policy in place to identify and issue refunds for inappropriate funding fee charges. Currently the VA relies on the veterans to contact the VA and file a claim for a refund, although the VA has not published a standard form for the request. Based on the findings, the OIG recommends that the VA develop a plan to (i) identify exempt veterans who were inappropriately charged funding fees and issue refunds; (ii) create system enhancements or procedural changes that minimize inappropriate funding fee charges; (iii) conduct periodic reviews to identify exempt veterans charged funding fees from January 1, 2018, forward and issue refunds in a timely manner; and (iv) consistently obtain documentation and verify lenders apply the funding fee refunds to loan balances in a timely manner.