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Everyone talks about veteran benefits
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going away, especially in 2025, which
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has not happened at all. However, comma,
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until two days from right now, the VAS
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program is going away. Jason is way more
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well-versed in the VAS than I am. Um, I
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do have the circular
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26252. And really quick, I learned this
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from David Pekch from VA Housing
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Education, by the way, which you should
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absolutely go check out if you are
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looking at finances as a whole and
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especially for VA home loans. He's just
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a solid dude. But David taught me that
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there's a VA handbook that was published
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many years ago. I forgot when it was a
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while ago. Um, and that VA handbook
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doesn't get updated, which blows my
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mind, right? Imagine if there was 38 CFR
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that was made in the 70s and it never
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got updated. There were updates in other
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books, but not 38 CFR. That's
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essentially how VA homeown stuff works.
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There's a VA handbook and then there's
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these circulars. And so whenever I I was
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reading this and I saw circular, I was
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like, oo, I know what that is because
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David Pekk taught me that. I'm going to
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read what the circular says. But before
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I do that, I know you're you can talk
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vast way way way more articulate than I
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can.
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Articulate is a big word for me, man. If
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you've ever if you've ever heard me try
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to announce uh uh pronounce things, I
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mean, you would know that. Yeah. I keep
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it simple, stupid. That's that's kind of
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my motto. All right. So BASP that is the
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program for those that don't know that
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got
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implemented because the VA screwed up.
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So back during the COVID craziness there
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was a program there the veterans had the
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ability to if they were in a tight spot
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because they lost their job whatever it
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is. And I see comments on this stuff all
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the time like look if you can't afford
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your house you probably shouldn't get to
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keep
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it. Well yes and no. They actually
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qualified for their house. Everything
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was fine. Then their employer shut the
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doors because the government wouldn't
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let them operate during COVID. So why
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are you going to keep paying your
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employees? So now you you lost your job.
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So they allowed what's called a
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forbearance. So the the VA allowed
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lenders, servicesers who you're making
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your payments to to be able to add this
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uh any missed payments to the end of
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your loan. So you'd get agreed to on a
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12-month forbearance. I'm not going to
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make a payment for 12 months while I go
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find another job, put some money back in
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my pocket, all of those things. Those 12
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months get added to the end. Well, that
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was great until there was an expiration
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date on that ability to do that for
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these servicesers. So, the VA pulls the
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plug on it and it just blows me away,
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Clay. The writing is so on the wall. I
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mean, what's going to happen for anybody
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who's in the process? And the writing's
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on the wall. Uh, and the VA didn't see
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it and they pulled the plug on that
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program which eliminated the ability for
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servicesers, mortgage services, who you
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make your payment to. It eliminated that
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ability for them to add those
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mispayments to the end of the loan.
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There was no grandfathered in clause or
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anything. It's you you either already
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did it or you didn't. And that left tens
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of thousands of veterans um really in a
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very very bad spot. And there was this
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time period of a good probably almost
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six months where the VA had nothing to
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nothing to help these people with. So
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they created VASP. VASP was I guess a
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good
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idea. I guess I personally I would have
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just reopened up the ability for
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servicesers to work with lenders to able
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to have them add those payments back to
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the end of their loan. Just reopened
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that up um and put some additional
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language in there. But instead they
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created VASP. VASP is essentially uh the
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it was the last kind of resort or or
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tool in the toolkit for veterans that
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were facing foreclosure. It allowed the
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VA to purchase that loan from the serer
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uh and then service it themselves. So
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now you would make your payment to the
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VA at a 2.5% interest rate, which is
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just unbelievable in today's market. And
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it was the VA's way of trying to okay
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that was kind of the going rate then so
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let's just kind of move you back into
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that. Um but now now the VA is saying
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well this was a stupid idea because
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we're not a lender. We're not a serer.
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We're not supposed to be we're not going
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to create a big department of processing
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payments and you know issues. What
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happens if you're late on that? Well you
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got to call somebody. Who are you going
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to call? The VA. Well, now you got to
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call the VA and talk with somebody who's
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a lone person there. And it's just it's
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it's too too much for the VA to deal
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with, I guess. So now they are ending
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this program again pulling the plug. And
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in my opinion, Clay, without a solid
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fall back as of yet. There's some ideas
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floating around. There's some
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legislation floating around, but there's
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nothing concrete. So now anybody who's
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currently in
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foreclosure going through that process,
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this option is getting pulled away,
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leaving you with who knows. And
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hopefully the VA will figure this out
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quickly. Um I will throw out just to
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kind of double tap on the David Pekch
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thing who we've had on this channel.
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We've had it on had him on our uh uh
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personal channels as well. Um he is a
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solid
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resource to bounce ideas off as well. If
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you are in any sort of a circumstance,
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have a conversation with him and he
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might be able to to guide you down uh a
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path. He is definitely the mortgage
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subject uh matter expert. So So utilize
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him. Uh back to you, Clay. Yeah. My fear
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I'm going to go at a different angle and
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then I'll read um the circular here. My
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fear from this video when we post it,
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Jason, is that it's kind of similar to
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veterans losing their jobs in the
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federal workforce, not specifically the
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VA. Meaning, oh, it didn't happen to me.
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It's not my problem. Do better, you
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know, right? Whatever, whatever. Um, and
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I'll tell you right now, I have friends
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that have lost their job, both on the
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contract side and federal employment
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side, and it sucks, dude. So, it's easy
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to type a comment that
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is, I would say, disgraceful. Um, at
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least I would make that argument, right?
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And I think that really applies to this
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situation in particular. It would be
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easy to say if you can't make your
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payments, then it's not your house,
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which you're not wrong. However, uh you
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don't have to be a douchebag either. I
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think that's the best way to say. Okay.
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Now, um I do want to read this statement
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uh from
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the consumer finance monitor says VA
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characterized as a last resort tool. And
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that's exactly what Jason had brought up
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for VA home loan borrow borrowers facing
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severe financial hardships. And that's
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the VAST. Now, in circular 26, TAC25 TAC
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2, uh the Marine Corps says TAC,
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everyone else says dash. I'm going to
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keep saying tac because that's what I
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do. VA announced that as of May 1st,
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2025, it is
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rescending VASP as the final option and
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will stop accepting VASP submissions. Um
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I
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am at some point we have to get away
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from COVID this co that and I understand
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that but I think I I you said it best
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Jason that well for those affected
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what's the fallback plan specifically
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um if one veteran goes if you lose your
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home you file bankruptcy that's an
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entire life decision right like that's
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going to be a dark cloud over your life
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until you die, maybe even your the life
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of your children, um depending on where
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you're at. And so I would like to see
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some sort of backup plan what that looks
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like. The VA's plan is to cut this
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program, which I think at some point it
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needs to be cut. I think most people
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would agree with that. Um the issue I
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have, and I think it leads into our next
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conversation, which we'll get into, a
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trend I'm seeing with this
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administration specifically, if there's
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a lever you know, they pull it back and
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see what broke. If anything breaks,
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they'll let it go back up. If not, they
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pull it back a little more, then a
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little more, then a little more until
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something breaks and they're like,
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"Okay, okay,
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okay. Time will settle." Then they keep
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pulling that lever. Um, and I think VAS
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is a let's do it. Let's see what
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happens. We'll figure it out later, you
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know. um in a statement
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made I want to say by the VA secretary
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definitely under this administration it
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was about something something we're
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going to h this is going to happen it's
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going to solve 80% of the problems 20%
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will have a negative effect but we can
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work those later on you know the the
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bang is worth the buck here is
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essentially what they were saying and I
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was like ah well if you're in that if
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you're in that 80% great if you're in
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that 20% not So great. And I think we
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see that same trend now bleeding into
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VAS. So before we switch topics, I want
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to get your final thoughts on VAS or or
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whatever I said sparks any thoughts.
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Yeah. You know,
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um again, I I I think that that the one
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thing that you did say that that kind of
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resonates
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is we as a veteran community, the
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veteran sphere, if you will, right? And
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for those that never heard me say that
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that the veteran sphere includes
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everybody, surviving spouses, spouses,
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dependents, caregivers, veterans,
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disabled veterans, it's all of us,
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right? And I think that
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that we need to stop um looking at it,
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does this affect me, does this not
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affect me? We need to instead look at is
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this the right thing or the wrong thing
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for the veteran sphere. And we need to
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look at wins.
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wins whether they impact us or
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not as a good thing. Packing the
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snowball if you will, right? So, the
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more that we can add to it, the better.
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And some things just aren't going to
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impact you or affect you today. Let it
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come later. Right? So, that that's
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really all I wanted to add was is that
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we need to look at it from a more um
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what's good for one is good for all kind
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of aspect and get back to that type of a
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mentality. Well, that's that's you know,
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you can transfer your VA home loan.
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That's one of the benefits we have. So
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imagine you you're gonna die, right?
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You're a veteran. You know that's going
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to happen for whatever reason. You're
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transferring your home loan um to your
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spouse or dep whoever it
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is. So they buy a house and then COVID
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happens. The federal government by the
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way shuts that business down. Now they
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can't make their payments and all of a
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sudden they are on the verge of filing
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bankruptcy and it's like whoa whoa whoa
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whoa.
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Is that right? I think arguably um I I I
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would say almost
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objectively that answer is no. Okay. I
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think that's a perfect segue into a
