For a VA home-loan scenario, this calculator models the funding fee as part of the financed balance unless you select the exemption assumption. It estimates principal and interest and can add property tax, homeowners insurance, and HOA dues. It does not verify VA eligibility, entitlement, or fee exemption.
The result is a planning estimate, not a loan offer or a decision about VA eligibility. Confirm the applicable funding fee, exemption status, loan terms, and closing costs with the VA's funding fee and closing-cost guidance and your lender.
How to Use the VA Loan Calculator
- Set the price and down payment: Enter the Home Price and the Down Payment percentage. VA loans allow 0% down, so the down payment can stay at zero.
- Pick rate and term: Enter the Interest Rate and choose 15 or 30 years from the Loan Term list.
- Check the funding fee: The Funding Fee (%) field auto-fills based on your down payment and the First Use of VA Loan? selection. Leave it, override it with a figure from your lender, or tick the exemption checkbox if the fee should be set to zero.
- Add escrow costs: Under Monthly Escrow (optional), enter Property Tax and Home Insurance as annual amounts and HOA as a monthly amount, or leave them blank.
- Calculate: Click Calculate to see the Total Monthly Payment, principal and interest, the VA Funding Fee, the Total Loan, and Total Interest, with a month-by-month amortization schedule available.
The result is a planning estimate that finances the funding fee into the loan and includes only the escrow costs you enter.
How the estimate works
The calculator starts with the home price less the down payment to estimate the base loan. It calculates the funding fee as a percentage of that base loan, adds the fee to the loan balance, and estimates principal and interest on the resulting amount:
Base loan = home price - down payment
Modeled loan = base loan + funding fee
The funding fee is treated as financed in the calculation. The tool does not provide a separate option to pay the fee in cash instead. Because the fee is added to principal, the estimate includes it in the balance used to calculate monthly principal and interest.
Funding-fee assumptions
The form fills a starting fee percentage based on the down-payment percentage and whether you select first or subsequent use. The calculator's built-in assumptions are:
| Down payment | First use assumption | Subsequent use assumption |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 5% | 2.15% | 3.30% |
| 5% to less than 10% | 1.50% | 1.50% |
| 10% or more | 1.25% | 1.25% |
These are the calculator's built-in assumptions, not a confirmation of your fee. They follow the purchase-loan rates in VA's funding-fee rate chart effective April 7, 2023. Fee percentages are set by statute and have changed before, so verify the amount for your loan before closing. You can replace the percentage with a figure from your lender or VA documentation.
Example calculation
For a $350,000 home with no down payment and a 2.15% first-use fee assumption, the estimated fee is $7,525. The modeled loan is therefore $357,525. At a 6.75% interest rate over 30 years, the calculator estimates monthly principal and interest of $2,318.91.
If you also enter $3,600 in annual property tax and $1,200 in annual homeowners insurance, those inputs add $300 and $100 per month, respectively. The displayed monthly estimate becomes $2,718.91 before any HOA dues. These are illustrative inputs, not a current rate quote or a prediction of your actual costs.
Understand the monthly result
The principal-and-interest estimate is calculated on the modeled loan amount, including the funding fee. Optional property tax and insurance are divided by 12, and the monthly HOA amount is added as entered. The total shown is therefore:
Monthly estimate = principal and interest + monthly property tax + monthly insurance + HOA dues
Tax and insurance fields are optional annual amounts; HOA is an optional monthly amount. The total does not include every cost of buying or owning a home, such as utilities, maintenance, other closing costs, or lender-specific charges. The calculator does not add monthly mortgage insurance to its estimate.
Financing the Fee vs Paying It in Cash
VA allows the funding fee to be financed into the loan or paid in full at closing, and on a purchase loan the funding fee is the only closing charge that can be financed into the loan amount, as VA's funding fee guidance explains. This calculator models only the financed path: the fee is added to the base loan, and principal and interest are estimated on the combined total. It does not provide a separate input for paying the fee in cash.
Financing costs more over the term. On the example above, the $7,525 fee at 6.75% over 30 years works out to about $48.82 more in monthly principal and interest and roughly $10,051 of modeled interest over the full term. Paying the fee in cash avoids that interest but uses cash at closing. To compare the two, price the base loan alone in the Mortgage Calculator; the gap is the monthly cost of financing the fee. A lender's loan estimate shows the figures that actually apply to your loan.
Refinancing Inside the VA Program (IRRRL)
This calculator models a purchase-style funding fee. VA's rate-reduction refinance loan (IRRRL) carries a lower funding fee of 0.5% of the refinanced loan amount, and the funding-fee rates for refinancing loans do not vary with down payment: VA's rate charts list 2.15% for first-use cash-out refinancing and 3.3% for subsequent use. If you are modeling a refinance, the auto-filled purchase fee in this form does not apply; enter the percentage from VA's guidance or your lender's quote instead.
Worked IRRRL arithmetic, priced the way this calculator finances fees: refinancing a $300,000 balance with the 0.5% IRRRL fee financed adds $1,500 to the loan, making the modeled balance $301,500. At 6.75% over 30 years the model prices that at $1,955.53 of monthly principal and interest against $1,945.80 on a $300,000 balance ? $9.73 a month for financing the fee, or $3,501.76 over the full term, of which $2,001.76 is interest on the fee itself. Whether the refinance is worthwhile is decided by the rate reduction set against those costs, which is a comparison to make with actual quotes.
Confirm whether you qualify for the IRRRL or a cash-out refinance with VA or a lender before treating a refinance scenario as possible; this tool does not evaluate eligibility for either.
Funding-fee exemption option
Selecting the exemption checkbox sets the modeled funding fee to zero. The calculator does not determine whether you qualify, review disability or service records, or verify a Certificate of Eligibility. Treat the checkbox as an assumption only, and confirm exemption status through the appropriate VA and lender process.
Important limitations
- Not an eligibility or underwriting check: The tool does not evaluate entitlement, service history, income, debts, residual income, credit, property requirements, or loan approval.
- No salary input by design: Affordability screening on a VA loan runs through residual income, entitlement, and occupancy checks with your lender, which is why the tool has no income field.
- Fee schedule is an estimate: The built-in values may not reflect a later schedule change or an individual exception. Confirm the fee with VA and your lender; use the custom percentage when you have a verified quote.
- Fee is financed: The model always adds the entered fee to the base loan. It does not compare paying it upfront in cash.
- Selected costs only: Property tax, insurance, and HOA are optional estimates. Other closing and homeownership costs are not included.
- Currency display is not conversion: Changing the currency selector changes how amounts are formatted, not their underlying value or the U.S.-specific VA program assumptions.
Use the estimate to explore a scenario, then compare it with a lender's written loan estimate and verify the fee and exemption information. For a broader purchase-cost view, try the Mortgage Calculator, Closing Cost Calculator, or Home Affordability Calculator.
The VA home loan payment follows a standard amortization across the full term with the funding fee added to the amount financed, and the tool accepts a 0% down payment case since fee rules change with the down-payment share. There is no input for extra payments toward an early payoff; test prepayment with the Mortgage Payoff Calculator.
Provenance: every dollar figure in this article was computed by replicating the calculator's model (apps/tools/va-loan-calculator/logic.php) from the stated inputs, and verified in October 2026.
Last verified: October 2026. Calculator figures are outputs for the inputs entered; they are not live quotes, current rates, or an offer.