Title: Access to Affordable Housing for Veterans Act of 2019
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:

Access to Affordable Housing for Veterans Act of 2019
This bill provides additional notifications to service members regarding home loans available through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The bill requires a Federal Housing Administration mortgage notice to a veteran to contain comparative rate and fee information about VA home loans.
The uniform residential loan application developed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must include a check box to indicate that the applicant is a veteran, the statement "If you are a veteran, you may be eligible for a VA mortgage," and a place to acknowledge such statement.
Preseparation counseling for a service member prior to discharge from active duty must include information regarding

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2835 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2835

To include information regarding VA home loans in the Informed Consumer 
Choice Disclosure required to be provided to a prospective FHA borrower 
 who is a veteran, to amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize 
the provision of a certificate of eligibility for VA home loans during 
 the preseparation counseling for members of the Armed Forces, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 12, 2019

Ms. Rosen (for herself and Mr. Roberts) introduced the following bill; 
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, 
                           and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To include information regarding VA home loans in the Informed Consumer 
Choice Disclosure required to be provided to a prospective FHA borrower 
 who is a veteran, to amend title 10, United States Code, to authorize 
the provision of a certificate of eligibility for VA home loans during 
 the preseparation counseling for members of the Armed Forces, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Access to Affordable Housing for 
Veterans Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FHA INFORMED CONSUMER CHOICE DISCLOSURE.

    Section 203(f)(2)(A) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 
1709(f)(2)(A)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(i)'' after ``loan-to-value ratio''; and
            (2) by inserting before the semicolon the following: ``, 
        and (ii) in the case of a prospective borrower who is a veteran 
        (as defined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code) who 
        would qualify for a loan guaranteed or insured under chapter 37 
        of title 38, United States Code, in connection with such a 
        loan, assuming prevailing interest rates''.

SEC. 3. UNIFORM RESIDENTIAL LOAN APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--The Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency 
shall direct the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal 
Home Loan Mortgage Corporation to revise the Uniform Residential Loan 
Application developed by those enterprises, not later than December 31, 
2020, to include--
            (1) in the borrower information portion of the application, 
        a check box for the applicant to check to indicate that the 
        applicant is a veteran;
            (2) adjacent to the matter required by paragraph (1) and in 
        boldface type, the following statement: ``If you are a veteran, 
        you may be eligible for a VA mortgage.''; and
            (3) adjacent to the matter required by paragraph (2), a 
        blank line for the borrower to initial, and a statement that 
        all applicants must initial the blank line to confirm that they 
        have read the statement required by paragraph (2).
    (b) Prohibition.--The information required to be included under 
subsection (a) shall not appear after the borrower signature line of 
the Uniform Residential Loan Application.

SEC. 4. PRESEPARATION COUNSELING FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 
              REGARDING DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS HOME LOAN 
              SERVICES AND HOUSING ASSISTANCE BENEFITS.

    Section 1142(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (17) and (18) as paragraphs 
        (18) and (19), respectively; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (16) and inserting the following 
        new paragraphs:
            ``(16) Information on the availability of home loan 
        services by and housing assistance benefits of the Department 
        of Veterans Affairs, including the authority of the member--
                    ``(A) to use an honorable discharge certificate as 
                a certificate of eligibility to apply for a guaranteed 
                housing loan from the Department of Veterans Affairs; 
                or
                    ``(B) to request, during the preseparation process 
                or after separation, a specific certificate of 
                eligibility for such a loan under section 3702(c) of 
                title 38.
            ``(17) Counseling on responsible borrowing practices.''.
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