The buyer came for the rate. The holder of the loan still has to approve the buyer.
It shows up on listings in Burton, on Lady's Island, and along Paris Avenue in Port Royal. A VA loan from 2020 or 2021 may still carry a rate from the year the national survey printed its low. A veteran can assume it. A buyer who never served can assume it too. Basics are on the VA loans page, and the program overview is on the assumable VA loans page. This is the list we run before that rate goes into an offer.
Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the U.S. 30-year fixed average at 7.40% as of October 8, 2026, from conventional, conforming purchase applications. For the week ending January 7, 2021, the same survey averaged 2.65%, its lowest reading since 1971 (Freddie Mac, January 7, 2021). That 2021 print was conventional too: 20 percent down, excellent credit. The 2.75% figure further down is a made-up note. Use a real rate only when the servicer's statement shows it.
Who can assume a VA loan?
38 U.S.C. § 3714 is the assumption statute for a loan committed on or after March 1, 1988. A 2020 or 2021 VA home loan is in that group (United States Code, 2023 edition, GovInfo). The holder approves the assumption, and the seller is relieved of further liability to the Secretary on the loan, including a later default, when the seller notified the holder in writing before the transfer and the holder finds three things. The loan is current. The buyer is under contract to buy the house, assume the unpaid balance, and take the seller's obligations on the loan papers. The buyer qualifies on credit to the same extent as a veteran eligible under section 3710, for a loan equal to that unpaid balance.
The credit test is written "as if" the buyer were a veteran. VA Circular 26-24-17 (August 11, 2024) covers an assumer "regardless of whether a Veteran." That circular and Circular 26-23-10 are valid until rescinded. VA's circulars list, read October 13, 2026, still shows both.
How long does the holder take to decide?
The holder, or the servicer deciding for the holder, underwrites the file. Under 38 C.F.R. § 36.4303(l), read October 13, 2026, a holder with automatic authority has 45 days from a complete application to examine credit and tell the seller. The period extends only by a delay the holder documents as outside its control, such as an employer who does not answer a verification sent on time. VA Circular 26-23-10 (May 22, 2023) states that same 45-calendar-day decision, and a 30-calendar-day appeal to VA if the answer is no.
If neither the holder nor its servicer has automatic authority, the credit package goes to VA within 35 days of a complete application. Same regulation. Same circular.
Those 45 days are the decision on a complete file. Orders to MCAS Beaufort, Parris Island, or Naval Hospital Beaufort run on that same clock. All three are on the military page.
The May 22 circular says the documents match a VA purchase, and the servicer applies VA Lenders Handbook M26-7, Chapter 4. The loan is current, or the buyer brings it current in cash by closing. A partial-claim balance from VA's COVID-19 assistance is due in full when ownership transfers.
What does the assumption funding fee cost?
38 C.F.R. § 36.4313(e)(2) sets the fee at one-half of one percent of the loan balance. The VA.gov funding-fee chart lists loan assumptions at 0.5%. The chart is effective April 7, 2023, and the page was updated October 5, 2026. Prior use does not change the assumption rate.
Circular 26-23-10 collects the fee in cash at closing and does not allow it to be financed into the balance. The holder remits it to VA within 15 days. Exemptions, including VA disability compensation and a Purple Heart received on active duty on or before closing, are on that VA.gov page and at § 36.4313(e)(5).
Change 1 (February 23, 2024) caps the processing fee at $300. Circular 26-24-5 (February 26, 2024) adds a locality variance when the assumption closes. Exhibit A puts South Carolina in the South, at $404. Change 1 also allows a credit report, recording charges, taxes, hazard and flood insurance, assessments, and title work. We use the servicer's written quote. The processing-fee regulation is § 36.4313(d)(8).
What happens to the seller's entitlement?
Circular 26-23-10 states both results. With no substitution, the original veteran's entitlement stays on the loan until it is paid in full. With a substitution, an eligible veteran who will occupy the house as a home, and who has enough entitlement, may replace the seller's entitlement with their own. The seller's entitlement is restored. The servicer orders a certificate of eligibility and applies the occupancy standards in VA Lenders Handbook M26-7, Chapter 3, Topic 5.
VA expects the holder to give the selling veteran VA Form 26-10291, Assumption Entitlement Acknowledgement, when the application arrives, signed by closing (Circular 26-24-9, April 25, 2024). A seller who needs the benefit at the next station should read that form before accepting a buyer who leaves the entitlement here.
How do you cover the equity gap?
The buyer assumes the balance. The price above it is the buyer's to pay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calls that difference an amount paid out of pocket or with the buyer's own mortgage ("Loan assumption," read October 13, 2026).
VA allows the second lien. Circular 26-24-17 says secondary borrowing is generally permitted, veteran or not. The VA loan stays in first position. The second lien is subordinate. Its proceeds may pay allowable closing costs or what is due the seller, and the assumer receives no cash back from it. The holder counts that lien's monthly payment in underwriting. Its rate may exceed the VA rate, and that rate is set on the second lien. Circular 26-24-17 supplies the rules M26-7 leaves out.
Example. The dollars below are hypothetical, except the 0.5% rule, the $300 cap, the $404 South Carolina variance, and the 7.40% survey average.
| Line | Figure | What the figure is |
|---|
| Contract price | $420,000 | Example |
| VA balance assumed | $280,000 | Example |
| Equity gap | $140,000 | Example price minus example balance |
| Funding fee | $1,400 | 0.5% of the example balance, cash at closing |
| Processing fee | $300 | The cap, if the servicer charges the cap |
| South locality variance | $404 | If the servicer charges the Exhibit A variance |
Example rate: 2.75%. Example term left: 312 months. Principal and interest on $280,000 at 2.75% is $1,257.17. The same balance and term at 7.40% is $2,023.96, a difference of $766.79 a month. Divide the annual rate by 12 and leave that monthly rate unrounded. Payment is balance × r × (1+r)^312 / ((1+r)^312 − 1), rounded to the cent at the end. Taxes, insurance, and any second-lien payment sit outside both figures. The 7.40% figure is the October 8, 2026 conventional average.
Cash for the $140,000 gap buys the example note's payment. Financing the gap means qualifying for that payment and the second lien together.
Does the seller come off the loan?
That approval is the release. Skip the written notice, and § 3714(b) lets the holder demand the full balance. If the holder finds the loan delinquent or the buyer short on credit, the seller may appeal. If the Secretary then orders the assumption approved anyway, § 3714(a)(4)(B)(ii) leaves the seller secondarily liable. Section 3714(d) requires the papers to say the loan is assumable only with approval from VA or VA's agent.
What would we actually do?
We get the balance, the rate, the months left, and whether the loan is current from the servicer before the rate enters an offer.
We build the gap on the real price and the real balance. If the buyer needs a second lien, that payment goes into the qualification before anyone treats $1,257.17 as the cost.
We ask on the first call whether the buyer can substitute entitlement and occupy the house. A seller who will use the benefit again should see that split before accepting. Form 26-10291 is the seller's copy of the choice.
We set closing after the holder decides a complete package.
The housing allowance stays in its own post: BAH in Beaufort. Sale prices near the air station are in Sold Prices Near MCAS Beaufort. Live listings are on search.
The free PCS Move Pack is on the military page and on each station page above. The form's submit button reads "Connect With a Military Specialist." Hamza Faris leads The Faris Group. He is a Marine veteran. Use that form to run this list on one house.
Sources
Read October 13, 2026, unless a figure names its own date.
- 38 U.S.C. § 3714 — assumptions, release of liability, the appeal, and the required assumption clause. United States Code, 2023 edition, GovInfo.
- 38 C.F.R. § 36.4303 — the 45-day credit decision, the documented-delay extension, the 35-day prior-approval package, and the 30-day appeal. Legal Information Institute copy of the e-CFR, read October 13, 2026.
- 38 C.F.R. § 36.4313 — funding fee of one-half of one percent of the balance, § 36.4313(e)(2); processing fee, § 36.4313(d)(8); exemption, § 36.4313(e)(5).
- VA Circular 26-23-10 — May 22, 2023. Timelines, entitlement, M26-7 Chapter 3 Topic 5 occupancy and Chapter 4 underwriting, the 0.5% fee in cash, partial-claim repayment on transfer. Valid until rescinded.
- VA Circular 26-23-10, Change 1 — February 23, 2024. Processing fee capped at $300, and the charges an assumer may pay.
- VA Circular 26-24-5 and Exhibit A — February 26, 2024. South Carolina is in the South region at $404.
- VA Circular 26-24-9 — April 25, 2024. VA Form 26-10291. Forms directory: VA.gov.
- VA Circular 26-24-17 — August 11, 2024. Secondary borrowing, including a non-veteran assumer. Valid until rescinded.
- VA home loan circulars — list read October 13, 2026.
- VA.gov funding fee and closing costs — assumptions at 0.5%. Chart effective April 7, 2023. Updated October 5, 2026.
- Freddie Mac PMMS — 30-year fixed average 7.40% as of October 8, 2026.
- Freddie Mac, January 7, 2021 — 30-year fixed average 2.65% for the week ending January 7, 2021.
- CFPB, Mortgages key terms — "Loan assumption." Read October 13, 2026.
