Can't get COE for VA Loan?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, I am a longtime lurker of this forum and finally have a question to ask. I am an Army Veteran from almost 40 years ago. I served active duty from 1987-1988 and was honorably discharged from the military due to being pregnant with my first child. I am currently in the process of trying to obtain a VA loan and I'm not sure if I am eligibile or not. My lender seems to think I am but I am having trouble getting a COE. She tried to get the COE and was told that I served in the army reserves for 6 years and that I need to provide a points summary. The problem is that I didn't! I was discharged because of my pregnancy and was not required to report to the reserves because of this. Since it was so long ago I'm not sure if I'm not sure what documents I should be looking for. All I have is my DD214, nothing else. Do I not qualify off of my active duty term? Someone please help. 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

My name is Chris and I think I have an answer that could help you out. If you sign up for E Benefits you can get your COE printed out yourself at home! www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/homepage

Go there and get started and you should be able to print out your own COE. I did it and actually called a number on the page becasue of an error on it that the person corrected right away. I was able to print out the corrected COE out right away! I hope this helps as I am holding on to mine so I can get a home loan we so very much worked for! God Bless! I pray this works for you. 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately using eBenefits will not work for me. I've never used it before and when I registered it constantly says not available and that I must visit a VA regional office in person which I can't do because they're all closed due to the pandemic. I've called the help line multiple times and they're never any help and always tell me to just try again later. I've tried for weeks now and not getting any luck and I'm approaching a deadline for me to get the COE. 

[VALoanMaster]

Hi @Anonymous,

According to the VA guidelines:

You would need to have completed 24 continuous months OR the full period (at least 181 days) for which you were called to active duty based on when you served.

Here are the guidelines from the VA Handbook:

A greater length of service is required for Veterans who:

·       enlisted (and service began) after September 7, 1980, or

·       entered service as an officer after October 16, 1981

These Veterans must have completed either:

·       24-continuous months of active duty, or

·       the full period for which called or ordered to active duty, but not less than 90 days (any part during wartime) or 181 continuous days (peacetime).

Cases involving other than honorable discharges will usually require further development by the VA Compensation Department.  This is necessary to determine if the service was under other than dishonorable conditions.

You may still be able to get a COE if you were discharged for one of the reasons listed below.

You must have been discharged for one of these reasons:

• Hardship, or
• The convenience of the government (you must have served at least 20 months of a 2-year enlistment), or
• Early out (you must have served 21 months of a 2-year enlistment), or 
• Reduction in force, or
• Certain medical conditions, or
• A service-connected disability (a disability related to your military service)

A lender needs to request your COE with a copy of your DD-214 & then, if needed, the LO needs to call VA until the issue is resolved.

It sounds like you need a lender with more VA experience.

[Anonymous]

I'm starting to realize the same thing. They claimed they've never had to do this before. Maybe I should look into getting another lender. Thank you.

[oreopanda]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm starting to realize the same thing. They claimed they've never had to do this before. Maybe I should look into getting another lender. Thank you.

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We used Veterans United and they were able to get my husbands COE and they were also able to verify his 100% disability.  It was painless and took no efforts from us to retrieve the COE. 

[Anonymous]

I'll check them out! Thank you 

[MauiMan85297]

Based on the information that was provided I'm going to say that you're not eligible for a VA loan because you only served 1 year or less and during your time (1987) you needed to complete 2 years active duty or 6 years of reserves (which you say you didn't drill at all on the weekends).  The pregnancy thing could be a gray area (but I doubt it) but it's not a disability where they gave you a rating and then discharged you because of that disability- you merely just got pregnant.

Your LO or their processor with your DD214 should be able to pull a COE with your in service date to see if eligible.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you can call the local VA HQs where you live for help.