From COE
to CTC.
Your benefit, start to finish: Certificate of Eligibility to Clear to Close. Eight tools. Enter your info, get your answer. Built by a Marine Corps veteran who does this for a living.
Do you qualify?
Service history in, a read on your COE out. Ben pulls the actual certificate for you.
A screener, not a determination. Eras, discharge upgrades, and exceptions get decided on the real COE. Surviving spouse? No DD-214 needed; the VA award letter and a few details do it. And if credit is the worry: the VA sets no minimum score, lenders set their own, and shopping your scenario across multiple lenders is exactly what helps thin or bruised credit. Bankruptcies season out; they don't disqualify you forever. Text Ben and he'll pull yours →
The one cost specific to the program.
A one-time fee, rollable into the loan. Many veterans pay nothing.
Exempt means no fee at all: veterans receiving VA disability compensation, those eligible for it but drawing retirement or active-duty pay instead, surviving spouses receiving DIC, service members with a proposed or memorandum rating before closing, and Purple Heart recipients closing on active duty. Not sure where you land? Your COE states your exemption; Ben pulls it. And if you pay the fee while a disability claim is pending, then win the claim with an effective date before your closing, VA refunds the fee.
What would it run each month?
Funding fee financed in, no monthly mortgage insurance, Alabama tax and insurance estimates you can edit.
The VA's secret weapon.
Qualify on what's left over each month, not just ratios. It's how VA files get approved when other programs say no.
Quick check only. The full VA worksheet also subtracts income taxes, utilities and maintenance, and childcare; Ben runs the real one (VA Form 26-6393). Guidelines: VA Lenders Handbook, South region, which includes Alabama. Count everyone in the household, including a non-borrowing spouse and dependents.
Keeping the first house?
PCS orders, rental plans, second homes: run what your remaining entitlement buys.
Default limit is the FHFA baseline conforming limit, which applies in every Alabama county. Your true remaining entitlement comes off the COE; Ben pulls it and confirms. Entitlement restores when a VA loan is paid off and the home sold, plus a one-time restoration if you keep the home.
Already have a VA loan?
The Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan: minimal paperwork, usually no appraisal, and the smallest funding fee in the program. Run the quick math.
Quick math only; your payoff, escrows, and lender credits move the numbers. VA rules for an IRRRL: your current loan must be a VA loan, seasoned at least 210 days from your first payment with six payments made, your closing costs must recoup within 36 months (the funding fee and escrow items don't count toward that test), and a fixed-to-fixed refinance generally needs a rate at least half a percent lower. Ben checks all four in minutes. Source: 38 U.S.C. 3709 and VA circulars.
What does the military pay you?
Your qualifying income, built from the official tables: basic pay plus BAS plus BAH. Lenders can count all three, and BAH and BAS are tax-free.
Basic pay: DFAS 2026 tables (posted January 2026); a brand-new E-1 earns $2,225.70 for the first 4 months, a little under the E-1 rate shown. BAS: 2026 DFAS rates. BAH: official DoD 2026 rate file for Alabama military housing areas, by grade and dependency status. Stationed outside Alabama? Use the DoD BAH lookup → and ask Ben. Grossing up reflects that tax-free pay counts for more when compared against taxable income; 25 percent is a common lender convention, and the exact treatment is lender-specific, so Ben confirms it on your file. Guard and Reserve drill pay differs; ask Ben.
Ask anything.
Grounded in the VA Lenders Handbook, checked twice before it answers, and honest when a question needs Ben instead.
General education, not loan advice, a quote, or an approval. Confirm anything here with Ben or a licensed loan officer. Questions are logged to improve answers; don't include personal details like your SSN.
Put the benefit to work.
Not sure you're eligible? Text Ben and he'll pull your COE.
Built by Ben Tamburello, NMLS 2468433. Marine Corps veteran, Naval Academy grad, Birmingham born and raised. One broker who shops your scenario, not one bank's menu.