I’m a Veteran and I’m Behind on My Mortgage. What Can My Servicer Offer Me Now?
There’s a way to get a delinquent VA loan current again without raising the payment. It’s called a partial claim, it went live this year, and most veterans it applies to have never heard the phrase.
What Is a VA Partial Claim?
A servicer identifies a veteran in default who might qualify, then puts them on a three month trial payment plan to check whether the current payment is affordable. Finish the trial, and the servicer pays off everything that’s overdue. The loan goes current.
The overdue amount doesn’t disappear when that happens. It moves.
If the VA Catches Up My Loan, Do I Still Owe That Money?
Yes, eventually. The VA reimburses the servicer for the amount that got paid off, and that reimbursement sits behind the mortgage until the servicer gets repaid. The servicer collects when the loan is paid off, refinanced, or the house is sold.
A partial claim buys a veteran current status today. It also adds a second number to the payoff, one that lands on whoever handles the closing later: the veteran refinancing, an heir, or an agent pricing a short sale.
Why Did the Old Program Go Away?
The partial claim exists because the program before it got pulled. VA Circular 26-25-2 says the VA implemented VASP, the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program, on May 31, 2024, then rescinded it on May 1, 2025, with active trial payment plans allowed to finish through August 31, 2025. NPR reported in April that VASP had given more than 33,000 veterans new mortgages at 2.5 percent before the VA shut it down with about a week of notice.
The same NPR report, citing ICE Mortgage Technology data, counted more than 10,000 veterans who lost their homes to foreclosure in the year after VASP closed, the fastest pace for VA loans in a decade, with another 90,000 behind on payments or already in the foreclosure process. Those are April figures. Nobody has published a Florida breakdown of them.
What Else Can My Servicer Offer Besides a Partial Claim?
The VA lists several options alongside the partial claim: repayment plans, standard loan modifications, 30 year and 40 year modifications, and disaster modifications for veterans hit by a declared disaster. The VA says it worked with servicers on home retention for 173,000 veterans in fiscal year 2025. A veteran who isn’t getting anywhere with a servicer can call the VA directly at 877-827-3702, option 6.
Why Does This Matter in Jacksonville?
Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Naval Station Mayport sit in Duval County, and Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay is just over the Georgia line. VA loan files are ordinary work in this market in a way they aren’t in most of the country. An agent taking a listing from someone behind on payments has a real chance of sitting across from a veteran who has an option nobody’s mentioned yet, and a subordinate balance nobody’s priced into the net sheet.
Florida forecloses mortgages in court, in front of a judge. The VA also has its own process for closing out a loan where it holds a partial claim interest, laid out in a circular dated three weeks ago. How that federal process lines up against a Florida judicial foreclosure isn’t written down anywhere yet.
A partial claim is real relief, and it comes with a bill that arrives later. Both are true about the same loan.
I’m in Jacksonville, and distressed property is most of what I work on. If you’re a veteran trying to get a straight answer out of your servicer, I’m not hard to reach. JimArmstrong904@gmail.com, or (904) 671-4161 if talking’s easier.
Jim Armstrong, REALTOR® · Momentum Realty · SFR® (Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource) certified. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.
Momentum Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender.
