- Use this calculator to see your exact VA loan monthly payment — including the funding fee, which is automatically calculated and financed into your loan.
- Toggle between VA and conventional mode to see exactly how much PMI you avoid and what your benefit is actually worth in dollars per month.
- Veterans with a service-connected disability rating are exempt from the VA funding fee — select “Exempt” in the VA Loan Use field to see your true payment.
- The rates widget below the calculator updates based on your inputs — home price, loan amount, ZIP code, and credit score — showing live lender quotes for your scenario.
- Putting 5% down reduces the first-use funding fee from 2.15% to 1.50%; 10% down drops it to 1.25%. Use the slider to see the payment impact.
Table of Contents
- VA Loan Payment Calculator
- How to Use This Calculator
- Understanding the VA Funding Fee
- VA vs. Conventional: What the Numbers Show
- How to Lower Your VA Loan Payment
- Frequently Asked Questions
Your VA loan payment has more moving parts than a conventional mortgage. The funding fee adds to your loan balance. PMI disappears. Your rate may be slightly lower. Getting an accurate estimate means accounting for all of it — which is what this calculator does.
Start with your home price and leave the down payment at $0 to see the baseline VA scenario. Then adjust the inputs and watch the rates widget below update to show live lender quotes that match your situation.
VA Loan Payment Calculator
VA Loan Calculator $0 DOWN
Estimate your monthly payment with your VA benefit or compare to a conventional loan. The rates table below updates with your inputs.
Compare Current VA Loan Rates
Rates below update based on your home price, loan amount, ZIP code, and credit score above. Adjust the calculator inputs and the table will refresh automatically.
Next Step
See If You Qualify for a VA Loan
Your payment estimate is a starting point. Check your eligibility and get pre-approved to know exactly what you qualify for.
Free. No obligation. Won’t affect credit score.
How to Use This Calculator
Home Price and Down Payment: Start with your target purchase price and leave down payment at $0 — the default VA scenario for most first-time VA loan users. Veterans with full entitlement can finance 100% of the purchase price with no loan limit. If you’ve used your VA benefit before and have partial entitlement, your lender will tell you if a down payment is required.
Interest Rate: The rate field defaults to a current market estimate. The lender rate table above will show you live quotes based on your inputs — use those to get a more accurate rate for your credit profile and location. VA rates typically run 0.25%–0.50% below comparable conventional rates, but the gap varies.
VA Loan Use: Select “First use” for your first VA loan. “Subsequent use” applies if you’ve had a VA loan before that was paid off or transferred — the funding fee increases to 3.30% with no down payment. “Exempt” applies if you have a service-connected disability rating, which eliminates the funding fee entirely.
VA Toggle: Flip this off to see the same loan as a conventional mortgage, including PMI. The payment difference is the clearest way to quantify what your VA benefit is actually worth each month.
ZIP Code and Credit Score: These pass directly to the rates widget and update the lender results to match your scenario. A 5-digit ZIP routes lender quotes to your market. Credit score affects the rates displayed.
Understanding the VA Funding Fee
The VA funding fee is a one-time charge that funds the VA loan program for future veterans. Unlike PMI — which protects the lender and provides no benefit to the borrower — the funding fee goes to the VA. Most borrowers finance it into the loan rather than paying it at closing.
The rate depends on three factors: first vs. subsequent use, down payment amount, and disability status.
| Down Payment | First Use | Subsequent Use |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% | 2.15% | 3.30% |
| 5% to 9.99% | 1.50% | 1.50% |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% |
| Disabled veteran (service-connected rating) | Exempt — $0 | |
On a $400,000 purchase with no down payment, the first-use funding fee is $8,600 — financed into the loan, it adds roughly $53/month on a 30-year loan at 6.5%. Compare that to the $250–$300/month a conventional borrower would pay in PMI on the same purchase with less than 20% down, and the math still favors the VA loan for most scenarios. For the full funding fee breakdown including refinance rates, see our VA Loan Funding Fee guide.
VA vs. Conventional: What the Numbers Show
The VA toggle on this calculator exists for a reason. The conventional wisdom that “VA loans always win” isn’t universally true — it depends on down payment, disability status, and how long you plan to stay in the home. The toggle lets you run your specific numbers rather than relying on generalizations.
The 3.30% funding fee on subsequent-use loans with no down payment is substantial. A subsequent-use veteran on a $500,000 loan pays $16,500 in funding fee. Running the VA-vs-conventional toggle with a 10%–15% down payment may show that conventional financing is competitive, particularly for borrowers with strong credit who can avoid PMI with 20% down. The calculator shows you the actual monthly difference — use it.
For a side-by-side breakdown of VA vs. conventional vs. FHA on total costs, see VA Loan vs. Conventional and VA Loan vs. FHA.
How to Lower Your VA Loan Payment
Shop for a better rate. The rates widget above shows live quotes from multiple lenders. A 0.5% rate improvement on a $400,000 loan saves roughly $120/month and over $43,000 over 30 years. Getting three quotes before committing is the highest-impact action most borrowers skip.
Put 5% or 10% down to reduce the funding fee. If you have cash available, even a modest down payment drops the first-use fee from 2.15% to 1.50% (at 5%) or 1.25% (at 10%). Use the down payment slider to see the exact monthly impact for your loan size.
Confirm disability exemption status. If you have a pending VA disability claim at closing, you may be eligible for a full refund of the funding fee after your rating is awarded. Document this with your lender before closing — don’t leave it to chance after the fact.
Negotiate seller concessions. The VA allows sellers to pay up to 4% of the purchase price in concessions, which can cover prepaid costs and reduce your out-of-pocket at closing. Freeing up that cash may reduce your need for a down payment — which keeps your options open.
Consider a shorter loan term. Use the loan term dropdown to compare 30 vs. 15 years. The monthly payment is higher on a 15-year loan but total interest paid is dramatically less. If the payment difference is manageable, the long-term savings can be substantial.
VA Home Loans
Ready to Turn Your Estimate Into a Loan?
Check your VA loan eligibility, compare lenders from the rate table above, and get pre-approved — all at no cost and no credit impact.
✓ No PMI ever
✓ Exempt if service-connected disabled
✓ Competitive rates
Independent Educational Resource: USMilitary.org is not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. Calculator estimates are for illustrative purposes only and do not constitute a loan offer. Actual rates, fees, and payments will vary. For official information, visit VA.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
The principal and interest calculation is mathematically exact based on your inputs. Property tax and insurance are estimated from national averages unless you enter your own figures in Advanced Options. The funding fee rates are current as of 2026 per VA published tables. The calculator does not include discount points, lender-specific fees, or local tax assessments — use it to compare scenarios and set expectations, then get an official Loan Estimate from a VA-approved lender.
The lender rate comparison widget is connected to your calculator inputs. When you change the home price, down payment, loan term, ZIP code, or credit score, those values are passed to the rates widget, which refreshes to show lender quotes that match your specific scenario. There’s an 800ms delay before the widget refreshes so it doesn’t reload on every keystroke while you’re adjusting sliders.
Yes. When VA mode is active, the funding fee is automatically calculated based on your down payment percentage and whether you select first use, subsequent use, or exempt. The fee is added to the loan balance — matching how most borrowers handle it — and shown as a separate line in the payment breakdown. Toggle to 5% or 10% down to see how a down payment reduces the fee rate.
You can estimate a post-refinance payment by entering your new loan balance and rate. Note that the VA IRRRL funding fee is 0.5%, and the cash-out refinance fee is 2.15% or 3.30% depending on use. Enter the refinanced loan amount (including any cash-out) and the new rate to estimate your new payment. See the VA IRRRL Guide and VA Cash-Out Refinance Guide for full details.
Residual income is the VA’s unique qualification measure — money remaining each month after all debts and the mortgage are paid. The VA requires borrowers to meet minimum thresholds by family size and region. This calculator shows payment estimates only and does not calculate residual income. Your VA lender handles residual income as part of underwriting.
