VA Partial Claim Program (2026): How It Works, Who Qualifies, and What Replaced VASP
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If you have a VA loan and you are behind on payments in 2026, there is a new federal tool built specifically to keep you in your home, and most veterans have never heard of it. The VA Partial Claim Program went live for submissions on June 15, 2026. It lets the VA pay your servicer the amount needed to bring your loan current, moves that amount into a separate lien with no interest and no monthly payment, and leaves your original mortgage, and your original rate, untouched.
I am Garrett Puckett, Founder and CEO of Security America Mortgage. We are a VA lender, not your loan servicer, so this page has nothing to sell you. It exists because the program is brand new, the official guidance is written for servicers rather than borrowers, and the rollout period running through November 28, 2026 means some veterans calling their servicer right now are being told, wrongly, that no help exists. Here is what the program actually is, who qualifies, and how to get it working for you.
What Is the VA Partial Claim Program?
VA Partial Claim Program -- In Plain Terms
A foreclosure prevention tool authorized by Congress in July 2025 through H.R. 1815, the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act. When a veteran with a VA-guaranteed loan falls behind due to hardship and can resume regular payments but cannot repay the missed ones, the VA pays the servicer enough to cure the delinquency.
That amount becomes a junior lien against the home: no interest, no monthly payments, repaid only when the loan ends through sale, refinance, or maturity. Your original mortgage -- and your original rate -- stays completely untouched.
Submissions opened June 15, 2026. It is not debt forgiveness. Every dollar is repaid eventually. What it buys is the thing that matters in a hardship: your original loan, your original rate, and your home, intact.
What Happened to VASP?
Search results still overflow with VASP content, so here is the transition in plain terms. The Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program was the previous safety net, under which the VA purchased entire delinquent loans from servicers and modified them directly. VASP stopped accepting new submissions on May 1, 2025.
Between that shutdown and the new program's June 2026 launch, veterans in default had a genuine gap in options. The partial claim structure replaces VASP with something narrower and more sustainable: instead of the VA buying your whole loan, it pays only the arrearage and parks it in a subordinate lien -- the same basic architecture FHA has used for years. If you want to use the VA benefit to purchase once you recover, see our VA loan guide.
If you were already helped by VASP, your VASP modification stands. If you applied for nothing during the gap because you were told nothing existed, the partial claim is the door that just opened.
How the VA Partial Claim Actually Works
Based on the final policy the VA published June 1, 2026 in Chapters 5 and 22 of the M26-4 Servicer Handbook. Six steps from delinquency to resolved:
Document your hardship
A letter explaining what happened, when it happened, and why it has resolved or stabilized -- job loss, medical event, divorce, or death of a household earner -- plus supporting evidence (termination notices, medical records) and current income documentation. Your Certificate of Eligibility confirms VA loan status and funding fee exemption -- have it ready.
Servicer runs the Loss Mitigation Waterfall
The mandatory sequence of VA home retention options. The partial claim is one rung. The servicer must evaluate your complete file before directing it there -- you cannot skip the waterfall.
Trial payment period
Demonstrate that the regular monthly payment is sustainable before the claim finalizes. This is the audition for the permanent solution: on-time payments, every one.
VA pays the servicer
The VA pays the amount needed to bring your loan current, generally capped near 25 percent of your unpaid principal balance. This cures the delinquency in full.
Junior lien created
The paid amount becomes a lien held by the VA against your home: zero percent interest, no monthly payment, nothing due until the loan ends through sale, refinance, or maturity.
Your original mortgage continues unchanged
Same balance path, same rate, same payment. For veterans holding 2020 to 2022 rates, this is the feature worth fighting for: no modification that trades your 3 percent loan for a market-rate one.
Who Qualifies for the VA Partial Claim?
Conventional, FHA, and USDA borrowers have their own programs. This one is VA only.
The home must be the one you live in. Investment properties and second homes are not eligible.
The program cures the past -- it does not subsidize an ongoing inability to pay. If the reduced income is permanent, the waterfall points to different tools. Veterans with a service-connected disability rating may also qualify for a funding fee waiver and property tax exemptions.
Typically demonstrated through the trial payment period before the claim finalizes.
The servicer must determine, through the VA's required evaluation, that the partial claim is the right fit. You cannot request it and skip the review.
The Loss Mitigation Waterfall: Why You Cannot Just Ask for a Partial Claim
The VA rebuilt its entire home retention framework alongside this program, and the two operate as one system. Per the VA's own guidance, the partial claim can only be offered when the Loss Mitigation Waterfall directs the file there, and borrowers re-enter at Step 1 each time they seek help.
Spread the arrearage over future payments. Best when the arrearage is small and income recovered quickly. No lien, no VA involvement.
Temporary payment pause or reduction for hardships still in progress. Not a permanent solution.
Restructure the first mortgage -- sometimes extending the term or changing the rate. Right when the old payment is permanently unaffordable. Wrong when it trades your low fixed rate for a market-rate one.
VA pays the arrearage; junior lien at 0%. The fit when hardship is over, regular payment works, and missed payments are the only problem.
Private sale, short sale, deed in lieu. When keeping the home is not viable -- each beats a foreclosure on credit, entitlement, and future eligibility. Our VA loan guide covers reusing your entitlement after each exit path.
The phrase that opens the right door: when you call your servicer, say "I want to be evaluated for VA home retention options under the Loss Mitigation Waterfall." That sentence obligates a full review. Asking only "do you do partial claims" invites a yes or no answer that ends the call.
Key Dates and the Rollout Problem
The gap between June 15 and November 28, 2026 is where veterans are getting hurt right now. Some servicers were ready at launch. Others are still building systems and training staff, and their front-line representatives may say the program "is not available" -- which is true only of their internal readiness, not of the program.
If your servicer says the program is not available: escalate to the loss mitigation department, ask for their expected implementation date, ask that your request be logged in writing, and follow up. Call the VA directly at 877-827-3702 and ask for a loan technician. VA staff can intervene with servicers on your behalf.
How to Request the VA Partial Claim: Step by Step
Not the general payment line. Request: "I want to be evaluated for VA home retention options under the Loss Mitigation Waterfall." Write down the agent's name and the date of the call.
Hardship letter (what happened, when, why it is resolved) + recent pay stubs or income docs + bank statements + supporting evidence (termination notice, medical records). The stronger the package, the faster the file moves. Your Certificate of Eligibility confirms VA loan type and funding fee status -- include it.
Respond to every document request quickly. Stalled files age into foreclosure timelines -- urgency on your end is non-negotiable.
On time. Every payment. This is the demonstration that the regular payment is sustainable and the audition for the permanent solution.
Partial claim amount, confirmation of zero interest and no monthly payment, and written confirmation that your first mortgage terms are unchanged. Do not finalize without this.
Dates, names, confirmation numbers, document copies. During a phased implementation rollout, your paper trail is your protection if something goes wrong. Once resolved, use our VA mortgage calculators to plan your next move.
During a phased rollout, the borrowers who get processed are the borrowers who stay on the record. If you are current on your loan and looking to refinance or purchase, see our VA refinance guide and application page. Every call logged, every document sent, every follow-up made in writing advances your position. Inaction does the opposite.
Repayment: The Junior Lien Over Time
The partial claim is deferred, not forgiven. The VA's lien comes due when your loan ends: you sell the home, you refinance, or the mortgage reaches maturity.
At sale: paid from proceeds like any other lien. A $20,000 partial claim on a home with $120,000 of equity is a footnote. The same claim matters more if you plan to refinance within a couple of years -- factor it into that math early.
At refinance: the new loan must account for the lien, either paying it off or, where VA permits, subordinating it. See our VA refinance options to understand the IRRRL and cash-out paths post-recovery. Check with your lender before assuming it blocks the refi.
What the lien never does is grow. No interest accrues -- ever. That makes it the cheapest money in your financial life, provided you remember it exists.
Partial Claim vs Your Other Options
Repayment Plan
Best when arrearage is small and income recovered quickly. Pay extra each month over an agreed period. No lien, no VA involvement, simplest path.
Loan Modification
Restructures the first mortgage -- can extend the term or change the rate. Right tool when the old payment is permanently unaffordable.
Partial Claim
VA pays the arrearage; junior lien at 0%, no monthly payment, due at sale/refi/maturity. Original rate and mortgage untouched.
Refinance
Generally unavailable while delinquent. Revisit after 12 months of clean history post-resolution. Protects rate option value if you cure via partial claim now.
Exit Options
Private sale, short sale, deed in lieu. Each beats foreclosure on credit, entitlement, and future VA eligibility. Our VA loan guide covers eligibility after each exit path.
The partial claim fits one specific situation: hardship resolved, regular payment affordable, arrearage is the only problem. Every other situation has a different tool. Calling your servicer and asking for the complete waterfall evaluation is how you end up with the right one.
VA Partial Claim Program: Common Questions
A foreclosure prevention program, live since June 15, 2026, for veterans with a VA-guaranteed loan , in which the VA pays a delinquent borrower's servicer the amount needed to bring the loan current. The amount becomes an interest-free junior lien with no monthly payments, repaid when the home is sold, refinanced, or the loan matures.
No. VASP, which stopped taking new cases May 1, 2025, had the VA purchase entire delinquent loans. The partial claim pays only the arrearage and leaves your existing mortgage -- and rate -- untouched.
Through your loan servicer, by requesting evaluation for VA home retention options under the Loss Mitigation Waterfall. You cannot apply to the VA directly, but VA loan technicians at 877-827-3702 can assist when servicers stall. When you are ready to buy again, apply for a VA loan here .
Yes, eventually. It is deferral, not forgiveness: due at sale, refinance, or loan maturity, with zero interest in the meantime.
A VA-guaranteed loan on your primary residence, a documented hardship that has resolved, the ability to resume full monthly payments, and placement into the option through the servicer's required Loss Mitigation Waterfall evaluation -- typically including a trial payment period. Veterans with a disability rating may qualify for a VA funding fee waiver -- this is unaffected by the partial claim.
Generally up to about 25 percent of your unpaid principal balance, enough to cure substantial arrearages accumulated through an extended hardship period. See our VA funding fee guide to understand how the fee interacts with the claim amount.
The program has been live since June 15, 2026, but servicers have until November 28, 2026 to fully implement it, so readiness varies. Escalate to loss mitigation, get your request logged in writing, ask for their implementation date, and call the VA at 877-827-3702 if you stall.
The delinquency that preceded it is already on your credit. The partial claim itself is a lien, not a derogatory event, and curing the delinquency stops further damage -- which is the entire point of acting early.
The lien must be addressed at VA refinance , either paid off through the new loan or subordinated where VA permits. Factor it into the math, and note the arrearage history itself matters more to refinance eligibility than the lien.
The current statutory authority runs through July 30, 2030, unless Congress extends it.
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