Veterans United Home Loans Mortgage Review 2024

Veterans United Home Loans overview

Established in 2002, Veterans United Home Loans is a full-service direct mortgage lender specializing in VA loans. It’s a popular choice among military borrowers and has become the leader in the VA loan sector, providing more VA purchase loans by volume than any other lender since 2016. Depending on the borrower, the lender can issue a preapproval in minutes (with conditional approvals in 24 hours), and its VA loan closings currently average 36 days. Notably, the lender is flexible enough to consider non-traditional credit data, and if you’re a returning borrower, you might be eligible for a credit.

Pros and cons of Veterans United Home Loans

How Bankrate scored Veterans United Home Loans

Affordability: 10/10

The lowest rates for a VA loan through Veterans United go to borrowers with at least a 720 credit score and those willing to pay points. The lender displays current purchase and refinance rates for each of its VA loan products online, and updates these daily. For a personalized rate, you can fill out a form online with information about your military service, living situation, loan type and contact info.

Because of its highly competitive APRs, Veterans United scores a 10/10 for affordability.

Availability: 10/10

Veterans United offers mortgages to borrowers nationwide. While it specializes in VA loans, the lender also offers conventional, FHA and USDA loans for various needs. To qualify for a VA loan from Veterans United, you’ll need a minimum credit score of 620 and a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio no higher than 41 percent.

Its nationwide availability and loan variety help Veterans United achieve a perfect score in this category: 10/10.

Borrower experience: 9.6/10

Veterans United was founded in 2002 and has since become the biggest VA lender in the U.S., having worked with more than 594,000 veterans on $149 billion in financing. The lender consistently has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and “Excellent” marks on Trustpilot. It also scored highly in J.D. Power’s mortgage origination survey for customer satisfaction. You can contact the lender 24/7 if you have questions on a home loan.

The only thing keeping Veterans United from a perfect score for borrower experience is that their rate lock only lasts 30 days.

Images courtesy of Veterans United Home Loans as of 11/14/2023. Note: Depending on method of contact, your individual credit profile and other circumstances, your experience might differ.

How to apply for a mortgage with Veterans United Home Loans

You can apply for a mortgage with Veterans United Home Loans in person at a branch location, online or by phone at 800-884-5560. From there, a loan officer will walk you through the mortgage process. 

Here are some tips to prepare for applying:

• Check your credit report. It’s important to check your credit report before your lender does, in case there are errors that could impact not only whether you get preapproved but also your ability to get the best mortgage rate. Knowing your credit score also helps you decide what type of loan to apply for. If your score is in the very low 600s, for instance, an FHA mortgage might be best for you, as its standards are more lenient than those for conventional loans.
• Gather personal and financial documents. With any lender, you must supply documentation about your income, assets and debts. This includes pay stubs and W-2s and account and loan statements.
• Provide details about the property. You’ll need to provide the address of the home and submit to an appraisal. (If you’re refinancing, you might or might not need an appraisal.)

Refinancing with Veterans United Home Loans

Veterans United offers both rate-and-term and cash-out refinancing options, along with the VA IRRRL or streamline refinance.

• Methodology

  To determine a mortgage lender's Bankrate Score, Bankrate rates lenders on a scale of one (1) to five (5) stars — with five (5) the highest rating — based on a variety of factors relating to the lender's products and services. To assign our ratings, we assessed each mortgage lender across three core areas:

  • Affordability. Annual percentage rate (APR) - 80%; assistance for first-time homebuyers - 10%; down payment - 10%

  • Availability. Loan products - 50%; licensing - 40%; credit score - 10%

  • Borrower experience. Rate transparency - 45%; customer service - 25%; convenience - 10%; days to close - 10%; rate locks - 10%; reputation (bonus)

  Learn more about our methodology.

  How we suggest lenders to compare

  To help you make the most informed decisions, our editorial team suggests two (2) alternative mortgage lenders for each lender reviewed in our comparison table. In most cases, these alternatives 1.) share the same strength (affordability, availability or borrower experience) as the lender reviewed; and 2.) rate highly for Bankrate Score. In the event more than two lenders meet these standards, we suggest the ones with the lowest APRs.