Key facts
- The IRRRL funding fee would rise from 0.5% to 1.42% of the loan amount under the bill.
- The VA assumption fee, charged when a qualified buyer takes over an existing VA loan, would double from 0.5% to 1%.
- Brendan McKay of the Broker Action Coalition estimates the average added cost at $8,550 over the life of a $400,000 loan.
- McKay said the breakeven period on a VA rate-reduction refinance would stretch from about 18 months to about five years.
- Representative Mike Bost said he is working with the Senate to send the bill to the president before the end of the year.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 9237, the Take Care of America's Veterans Act, on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, according to a report published November 12, 2026. The package bundles 60 measures to expand healthcare access, education and job opportunities and to cut red tape for veterans.
To help pay for the expanded benefits, lawmakers folded in fee increases from H.R. 6047, which the House approved in June before the bill stalled in the Senate. The most material changes affect the VA's Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan program and assumption fees, both widely used by active-duty servicemembers, veterans and surviving spouses to improve affordability or preserve below-market interest rates.
The IRRRL funding fee would almost triple, rising from 0.5% to 1.42% of the loan amount. The VA assumption fee, charged when a qualified buyer assumes an existing VA loan, would double from 0.5% to 1%. The bill would also extend current funding fee rates for nondisabled veterans on purchase and cash-out refinance loans, while adding modest monthly costs for some borrowers.
On a $400,000 mortgage, the IRRRL fee increase alone translates into thousands of dollars in additional upfront or financed costs. Brendan McKay, co-founder and chief advocacy officer for the Broker Action Coalition, estimates the average increase at $8,550 over the life of a loan at that price point. McKay said borrowers previously might have recouped the cost of a VA rate-reduction refinance in roughly a year and a half, but the breakeven period would now stretch to about five years.
"This bill would make housing more expensive, especially for active-duty service members," McKay told HousingWire, adding that Congress should look to the Pentagon's proposed $1.5 trillion 2027 budget before stripping equity from military families' homes.
Mike Bost (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said he is working with the Senate "to get this bill over the finish line and to the president's desk before the end of the year."