VA Form 26-8937 documents your exemption from the VA home loan funding fee, and only five kinds of borrower ever need it. We keep the VA home loan guides on this site current, and this is the form readers confuse with the Certificate of Eligibility more than any other. Its official name is Verification of VA Benefits, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) last revised it in May 2025.
What VA Form 26-8937 Does
VA Form 26-8937 moves benefit information from VA to your lender in writing. You fill in items 1 through 10 and sign it. Your lender sends it to the appropriate VA Regional Loan Center, which completes the box at the bottom and returns the form. The lender keeps that completed copy in the loan origination package.
The returned form lets a lender treat you as exempt from the VA funding fee, so the fee never reaches your closing costs. The funding fee is a one-time charge on a VA-backed or VA direct loan, and VA sets it as a percentage of the loan amount. Skipping that fee is worth the five minutes VA says the form takes.
Who Should Complete VA Form 26-8937
VA Form 26-8937 applies to five specific situations, and the form's own instructions say to complete it only in those cases. You should complete it if any one of these describes you:
- You are receiving VA disability payments.
- You have received VA disability payments.
- You would receive VA disability payments but for your receipt of retired pay.
- You filed a claim for VA disability benefits before discharge from active duty service.
- You are the surviving spouse of a veteran and you receive Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC).
Who Should Not Use This Form
Most VA loan borrowers never complete VA Form 26-8937. If you have never received VA disability compensation, never filed a claim before discharge, and do not receive DIC, none of the five conditions applies. Your lender has no reason to send the form.
A pension that is not service connected does not make you exempt either. VA marks that case in the box at the bottom and routes the loan to prior approval processing, which adds time to your file without removing the fee. If you need proof that you qualify for a VA loan at all, that document is the Certificate of Eligibility. Our Certificate of Eligibility guide covers who qualifies for the funding fee waiver and how to request one.
How to Complete Items 1 Through 10
Items 1 through 6 are identifying details, and items 7 through 10 are the certifications VA acts on. Work through them in order:
- Items 1 to 3. Your name, current address, and date of birth.
- Item 4. Your VA claim folder number, also called the C-File number, if you know it.
- Item 5. Your Social Security number. The form states that giving VA this number is voluntary, and that refusing by itself will not cause VA to deny you benefits.
- Item 6. Your service number, if it differs from your Social Security number.
- Items 9 and 10. Your signature in ink and the date you signed.
Item 7: VA Benefit-Related Indebtedness
Item 7 asks you to certify whether you have a VA benefit-related debt to your knowledge. You check DO or DO NOT, and the same line authorizes VA to release the information below it to your lender. VA then fills in either a statement that you carry no benefit-related indebtedness, or the type of each debt, the amount, and the term of any repayment plan. An unpaid VA debt does not automatically stop a loan. It does put a figure in front of your underwriter that was not there before.
Item 8: Pre-Discharge Disability Claims
Item 8 asks whether you filed a claim for VA disability benefits before discharge from active duty. This item exists for service members whose rating has not arrived yet. Item 8 lets VA record that you are entitled to compensation on discharge even though no monthly payment has started. That record supports the funding fee exemption before you have a rating in hand. Answer it accurately. A HAVE NOT answer closes the one route on this form that gets a still-pending claim recognized before closing.
What VA Fills In at the Bottom of the Form
The bottom third of VA Form 26-8937 belongs to VA, and it holds the finding your lender is waiting for. VA checks one of these outcomes:
- You are exempt from the funding fee because you receive service-connected disability compensation, and VA writes in the monthly amount.
- You are exempt because you are entitled to VA compensation on discharge from service.
- You are not exempt, because your pension is not service connected. The loan then requires prior approval processing by VA.
- VA has rated you incompetent, and the loan requires prior approval processing.
- VA cannot identify you from the information given, and needs more.
That last outcome is the one worth avoiding, because it costs a full round trip between your lender and VA. VA asks for a copy of your DD Form 214 or discharge papers. If you are on active duty, VA asks instead for a statement of service on official government letterhead, signed by the adjutant, personnel officer, or commanding officer. That statement should include your name, birth date, service number, entry date, and time lost. Sending that with the form the first time is faster than waiting for VA to ask for it.
One line in that box is easy to miss. Unless VA checks the funding fee exemption box, the funding fee receipt must be remitted to VA with VA Form 26-1820, the Report and Certification of Loan Disbursement. An unchecked box means the fee is still owed and still has to be sent in.
Where to Send VA Form 26-8937
Completed forms go to the appropriate VA Regional Loan Center, which processes the form and returns it to the lender. Your lender submits it, so in practice you sign the form and hand it back to your loan officer. You can find the office that serves your loan with VA's home loan facility locator, or call the regional loan center at 877-827-3702.
VA Form 26-8937 vs the Certificate of Eligibility
VA Form 26-8937 documents a funding fee exemption, and a Certificate of Eligibility proves you meet the service requirements for a VA-backed loan. A single loan file can need both.
| Question | VA Form 26-8937 | Certificate of Eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| What it proves | Your VA disability status and any VA benefit-related debt | That you meet the service requirements for a VA-backed loan |
| Who submits it | Your lender, after you sign it | You or your lender, using VA Form 26-1880 |
| When you need it | Only in the five situations listed above | On a VA-backed purchase or refinance |
| Official name | Verification of VA Benefits | Certificate of Eligibility |
| What it changes | Documents a funding fee exemption | Opens the loan |
You are not choosing between them. Nearly every VA borrower needs a Certificate of Eligibility, and only some also need VA Form 26-8937. Ask your loan officer which of the two they are still missing before you sign anything.
Is VA Form 26-8937 Still Required?
VA Form 26-8937 is a current form. VA lists a revision date of May 2025, and the form carries Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval number 2900-0406 with an expiration date of 31 May 2028.
Required is the wrong word for most borrowers though. The form's own instructions limit it to the five situations above, so it is a conditional step in a VA loan file. It is not a universal one. If a lender asks you to complete it and none of the five conditions describes you, ask why before you sign.
Only a change to the form itself would change this answer. If VA lets the OMB approval lapse in 2028 without renewing it, or folds this verification into the electronic eligibility record a lender already pulls, the separate form stops mattering. Until then, the five conditions are the test.
If Your Rating Arrives After Closing
A funding fee you already paid can come back to you. VA says you may be eligible for a refund if you are later awarded compensation for a service-connected disability. The effective date of that compensation must be retroactive to before your loan closing date.
The timing rule is strict. If you receive a proposed or memorandum rating after your loan closing date, you still owe the fee, and that rating does not make you eligible for a refund. VA directs refund questions to your regional loan center.
Next Steps
Start by working out whether any of the five conditions applies to you, then take the matching step:
- If you receive VA disability compensation now, tell your loan officer before they order the appraisal, and ask whether they still need this verification.
- If you filed a disability claim before discharge and it is still pending, say so, because Item 8 is the only place on the form where that fact counts.
- If you have never filed a claim and think you should, start with VA Form 21-526EZ.
- For the rest of the process, our VA home loan guide covers eligibility, rates, and closing, and the VA Forms hub lists the rest of the library.
Download VA Form 26-8937, complete items 1 through 10, sign it in ink, and hand it to your loan officer to send to VA.