Change Date

September 15, 2004, Change 4

11.                This section has been changed to create subsection lettering.

a. Eligibility

The lender may rely on a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) as proof that a veteran is eligible for a VA home loan.

b. Amount of Entitlement

The amount of available entitlement can be found at the center of the COE in the entitlement section.  The maximum available entitlement that can be shown on the COE is $36,000.

Even though the veteran may use up to $60,000 of entitlement for certain loans greater than $144,000, the COE will never reflect the additional  $24,000 in the available entitlement amount shown.  Instead, an asterisk by the word “available” refers to a note which explains the additional entitlement.

Amount of available entitlement is the most important item on a COE to a Lender, because VA’s guaranty on the loan generally cannot exceed this amount.

An exception is the additional $24,000 entitlement available on certain loans greater than $144,000.

If available entitlement shown is less than $36,000, it is for one of two reasons

12.                ·   the maximum entitlement has been changed by law since VA issued the  COE, or

13.                ·   the veteran previously used entitlement that has not been restored.

The last four changes in the law which impacted the maximum available entitlement were as follows: