VA IRRRL · Streamline refinance
You served. This is the one built for you.
The VA streamline refinance is the fastest, cheapest refinance in the business — if your file recoups the cost in 36 months. Work out whether yours does, right here, before you talk to anybody.
The screener
Does your file clear the 36-month test?
Nothing is collected and nothing leaves your browser. Change the disability answer and watch what happens — that is the part most veterans have never been shown.
Your current VA loan
Fill in your balance and rates to begin.
The honest part
Sometimes the answer is no.
VA sets the 36-month recoupment rule precisely because streamline refinances are easy to sell and easy to abuse. If the costs do not come back inside three years, the loan should not be written, and a lender who tells you otherwise is not doing you a favor.
The screener applies that test the same way an underwriter will. If your file fails it, you will see that here first, for free, instead of finding out after somebody has pulled your credit.
What makes an IRRRL quick
- Usually no new appraisal
- Usually no new certificate of eligibility
- Far less documentation than a full refinance
- Funding fee of 0.5% — waived entirely at a 10%+ rating
- Costs can normally be financed into the loan
Program features are set by VA and by the lender, and can change. Nothing here is a commitment to lend. Subject to credit approval and underwriting.
Questions
Straight answers
What is an IRRRL?
The VA Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan — a streamline refinance for veterans already holding a VA loan. Less documentation than a full refinance, and in most cases no new appraisal and no new certificate of eligibility.
Does my disability rating really matter that much?
Yes, and it is the single most overlooked thing in a VA refinance. A service-connected rating of 10% or higher waives the VA funding fee completely. On a $250,000 balance that is around $1,250 of cost gone, and it regularly turns a marginal file into one that clearly works.
Why does my new loan amount go up?
Because the new loan funds a new escrow account for taxes and insurance, and the closing costs are usually financed in. Your current servicer then refunds the escrow balance you have already built, normally within about 30 days of closing. It largely washes out — but nobody explains it, so people assume they are simply borrowing more.
What is the 36-month rule?
VA requires the cost of the refinance to be recovered by the monthly saving within 36 months. It is a real requirement, not a guideline. If a file does not recoup in time, the loan cannot be written that way — and the screener above will tell you so rather than pretending otherwise.
Do I need a new appraisal?
Usually not on an IRRRL. That is a large part of why it is quicker and cheaper than a standard refinance.
Can I take cash out with an IRRRL?
No. An IRRRL is a rate-and-term streamline. Taking equity out means a VA cash-out refinance, which is a different loan with a full appraisal and full underwriting.
Rated at 10% or more?
Then your funding fee is waived, and the math changes materially. Two minutes to see what that actually looks like on your loan.
Not a commitment to lend. Subject to credit approval and underwriting.