MBA's President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, released the following statement on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) release of its Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program:

“MBA welcomes the release of the VASP program as a new home retention option that will allow mortgage servicers to help more distressed Veteran borrowers stay in their homes via a more affordable and sustainable mortgage payment. This is especially important in the current high interest rate environment.

“Servicers have performed extraordinarily since the pandemic to implement new forbearance and home retention programs from the VA and other federal agencies, helping more than 8 million families stay in their homes. While the VA has announced a May 31 effective date, it is important for Veterans to understand that the VA has assured servicers that additional time will be provided to implement this complex and novel program. Servicers will work diligently to modify their systems and operations and train their staffs to implement the program by the VA’s deadline, when announced.

“The VA should also develop a permanent partial claim option as its preferred home retention solution, in addition to VASP. The partial claim worked successfully for borrowers and servicers during the pandemic and is a crucial loss mitigation tool that exists for every other government loan program. Having both a partial claim option and VASP would provide servicers a durable loss mitigation framework to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure in any market environment.

“MBA will work with the VA to ensure VASP delivers what is promised without placing undue operational and cost burdens on servicers and Veterans. We appreciate the VA’s release of resources and planned training for the program and call on them to be flexible on timing and receptive to industry feedback on refinements that may be needed.”