Estimate your VA funding fee and see what rolling the fee into the loan may add to your payment.
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How to use our VA Loan Funding Fee Calculator
- Choose the Loan type, then enter either Purchase price and Down payment or Loan amount before funding fee, depending on the loan type shown.
- Choose VA loan use and Funding fee exemption. Pick exempt only if VA or your lender has told you the funding fee does not apply.
- Open Advanced options if you want to compare paying the fee now with adding it to the loan, then set Roll fee into the loan?, Interest rate, and Loan term.
- Select Calculate and read VA funding fee first, then Fee rate used and Loan amount after your fee choice.
- Sanity-check the result: for a purchase, Down payment percent should match your cash down payment divided by the price, and Added monthly payment if financed should be $0 if you pay the fee at closing or are exempt.
Definitions
VA funding fee: A one-time fee for many VA-backed or VA direct home loans. This calculator estimates it from loan type, use, down payment tier, and exemption status.
Loan amount before funding fee: The loan balance before the VA funding fee is added. For a purchase, it is Purchase price minus Down payment.
VA loan use: First VA loan use means this is your first use of the VA home loan benefit. Later VA loan use means you have used it before.
Funding fee exemption: A status that can make the VA funding fee $0, such as certain service-connected disability, DIC, pre-discharge rating, or Purple Heart cases when confirmed by VA or the lender.
Down payment percent: Down payment divided by Purchase price, shown as a percent. For Purchase or construction, this decides the less than 5%, 5% to under 10%, or 10% or more fee tier.
Roll fee into the loan?: A choice to finance the funding fee instead of paying it at closing. Financing raises the loan balance and can add monthly payment and interest cost [1].
Common mistakes and quick fixes
Mistake: Entering the financed balance in Loan amount before funding fee.
Fix: Enter the loan amount before the VA funding fee is added so the fee is not counted twice.
Mistake: Using Purchase price but leaving Down payment higher than the price or below $0.
Fix: Make Down payment a dollar amount from $0 up to the Purchase price.
Mistake: Expecting Down payment percent to change every Loan type.
Fix: Use Down payment only for Purchase or construction. For refinance and other loan types, the calculator uses Loan amount before funding fee and the fixed rate for that loan type.
Mistake: Choosing Funding fee exemption because you might qualify later.
Fix: Choose Yes, I am exempt only after VA or your lender confirms the exemption. Otherwise choose No, calculate the fee.
Mistake: Leaving Interest rate blank while Roll fee into the loan? is set to Yes, add it to the loan.
Fix: Enter an Interest rate, or choose No, pay it at closing if you only want the fee amount.
Mistake: Reading Added monthly payment if financed as your full house payment.
Fix: Treat Added monthly payment if financed as only the extra principal and interest caused by the VA funding fee.
Limitations & Key Assumptions / Boundary Conditions
- This is an estimate for planning. Your lender and VA documents control the final funding fee, exemption status, loan amount, and closing figures.
- The calculator uses the VA funding fee rate table described in the calculator for common VA loan types. It does not decide eligibility for a VA loan or for an exemption.
- For Purchase or construction, the base loan is Purchase price minus Down payment. Seller credits, lender credits, closing costs, discount points, taxes, insurance, and escrow items are not included.
- Added monthly payment if financed and Extra interest from financing the fee use a fixed-rate monthly payment formula. They are only for the financed funding fee, not the full mortgage payment.
- The financing impact assumes the fee stays in the loan for the full Loan term. Selling, refinancing, making extra payments, or receiving a later funding fee refund can change the real interest cost.
- An Interest rate of 0% uses straight-line repayment of the fee across the Loan term to avoid division by zero.
Methodology
How the fee is chosen
The calculator first chooses the base amount. For Purchase or construction, it uses Purchase price minus Down payment. For refinance and other non-purchase loan types, it uses Loan amount before funding fee.
base_loan_amount = purchase_price - down_payment
down_payment_percent = down_payment / purchase_price * 100
For Purchase or construction, the fee rate depends on VA loan use and the down payment tier. First use is 2.15% with less than 5% down, 1.5% with 5% to under 10% down, and 1.25% with 10% or more down. Later use is 3.3% with less than 5% down, 1.5% with 5% to under 10% down, and 1.25% with 10% or more down. Cash-out refinance uses 2.15% for first use and 3.3% for later use. IRRRL refinance is 0.5%, Native American Direct Loan purchase is 1.25%, Native American Direct Loan refinance is 0.5%, manufactured home not permanently attached is 1%, VA loan assumption is 0.5%, and vendee loan for a VA-owned property is 2.25%.
If Funding fee exemption is Yes, I am exempt, the calculator sets Fee rate used and VA funding fee to 0.
funding_fee_amount = base_loan_amount * funding_fee_rate_percent / 100
How the fee choice changes the loan
If Roll fee into the loan? is Yes, add it to the loan, the estimated loan balance after the fee choice adds the VA funding fee to the base loan. If Roll fee into the loan? is No, pay it at closing, the loan balance stays at the base amount and Fee paid at closing equals the funding fee.
total_loan_if_financed = base_loan_amount + funding_fee_amount when finance_fee = yes; otherwise base_loan_amount
cash_due_for_fee = funding_fee_amount when finance_fee = no; otherwise 0
How the financing impact is estimated
The calculator treats the financed funding fee like a small fixed-rate loan paid monthly over the chosen Loan term. The monthly rate is the Interest rate divided by 100 and then by 12.
monthly_rate = annual_interest_rate / 100 / 12
term_months = loan_term_years * 12
added_monthly_payment = funding_fee_amount * monthly_rate / (1 - (1 + monthly_rate)^(-term_months))
added_total_interest = added_monthly_payment * term_months - funding_fee_amount
If the Interest rate is 0%, the calculator uses this safe fallback:
added_monthly_payment = funding_fee_amount / term_months
added_total_interest = 0
Mini-example
For a first-use Purchase or construction loan with a $400,000 Purchase price and $0 Down payment, the base loan is $400,000 and the down payment percent is 0%. The fee tier is 2.15%, so the VA funding fee is $400,000 * 2.15% = $8,600. If the fee is financed at 6.5% for 30 years, the added monthly principal and interest is about $54.36, and the extra interest over the full term is about $10,968.83.