Trump VA's end of mortgage rescue raised payments for veterans, NPR finds

Thousands of veterans who fell behind on their mortgages now have much higher monthly payments, according to an NPR investigation published Oct. 30. The cause was the Trump administration's decision to end a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program that helped them keep their homes ¹.

NPR looked at more than 40,000 VA loan modifications made from May 2025 through September 2026. A loan modification is a rewrite of a mortgage's terms after a borrower falls behind. NPR found that 63% of those veterans ended up with higher monthly payments. That is more than 26,000 veterans ³.

More than 15,000 saw their payments rise by at least $150 a month, and more than 700 saw increases of $1,000 or more. For comparison, only 2% of modified loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big government-sponsored mortgage companies, came with higher payments ¹³.

What the program did

The program was the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program, known as VASP. It started under the Biden administration. When a veteran fell behind on a VA-backed loan, VASP rolled the missed payments into a new mortgage at a 2.5% interest rate ¹.

The VA ended VASP on May 1, 2025. It did so through an administrative decision, with no vote in Congress ¹. Mortgage industry and housing groups had told Congress that shutting it down without a replacement would mean higher payments and more foreclosures ³.

Their warning held up. Without VASP, a struggling veteran's main option was a standard loan modification at today's much higher interest rates. Industry data show foreclosures on VA loans reached a 10-year high after the program ended, NPR reported ¹.

It was developed by unelected bureaucrats at the VA in direct defiance of Congress

One veteran's numbers

NPR described the case of Scott Boyd, an Army veteran who lives near Columbus, Ohio. He bought his home with a VA loan in 2021 and fell behind after a layoff and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His lender told him VASP was an option, but the program ended before he could use it ¹.

His modification raised his interest rate from 2.75% to 6.75% and stretched his loan to 40 years. His payment went up $1,181 a month. Before, about half of each payment paid down his loan. Now more than 90% goes to interest ¹⁴. Boyd told NPR he felt so defeated ⁴.

Who pushed to end it

Republicans on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee led the opposition. On April 3, 2025, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., released a statement attacking VASP. He argued that the VA chose to purchase loans at an average of $292,000 instead of reinstituting the partial claim program for an average loan delinquency of $22,500 ⁵. He said of the program:

This was a foreseeable outcome of abruptly ending a program without a replacement in place

Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., and Van Orden also issued a joint press release that welcomed the decision: "Today, the Trump administration rightfully put an end to VA's VASP program" ². NPR reported that neither Bost nor Van Orden answered its requests for comment on the new findings ¹.

Van Orden is on the ballot Tuesday in a tight reelection race against Democrat Rebecca Cooke, Raw Story noted. It reported that he has declined to answer questions about the fallout ².

In a statement, a VA spokesperson said "many leading voices in Congress supported the termination of VASP, which put the entire VA home loan program at risk" ³.

A replacement that came late

Van Orden wrote the bill for VASP's replacement, called the VA Partial Claim Program, and Congress passed it with support from both parties ². President Trump signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act on July 30, 2025 ⁶.

Under the partial claim program, a veteran who completes a three-month trial payment plan has the overdue amount paid off. The VA pays that money to the loan company, and it comes due only when the home is sold, refinanced or paid off ⁶. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the department was "grateful to Congress and President Trump for creating VA's Partial Claim Program" ⁶.

But the VA announced the details only in June 2026, more than a year after VASP ended ³⁶. Loan companies were given six months to put it in place ³, and most did not yet offer it when NPR published ¹. The new program also does nothing for the more than 26,000 veterans who were already moved into costlier loans ³.

That matters because the gap was predictable. In June 2025, NPR reported that about 80,000 veterans were behind on VA mortgages and heading toward foreclosure, and that Collins had refused to commit to a foreclosure pause ⁸.

These are veterans that are already financially distressed — they were already in trouble

Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said the VA or Congress could move the affected veterans back into lower-cost loans ¹.

The Record

1. Apr 3, 2025Rep. Derrick Van Orden releases a statement attacking the VASP mortgage rescue program as the VA moves to end it ⁵
2. May 1, 2025The VA ends VASP through an administrative decision, with no vote in Congress ¹
3. Jul 30, 2025President Trump signs the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act, which creates the Partial Claim Program ⁶
4. Jun 1, 2026The VA announces the details of the Partial Claim Program and gives loan companies six months to put it in place ³⁶
5. Oct 30, 2026NPR reports that more than 26,000 veterans got higher payments after VASP ended, including more than 15,000 whose payments rose by at least $150 a month ¹³

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<h2>Trump VA&#39;s end of mortgage rescue raised payments for veterans, NPR finds</h2> <p><em>By The GOP Files National Desk. This article first appeared on <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/trump-va-s-end-of-mortgage-rescue-raised-payments-for-veterans-npr-finds">The GOP Files</a> on Monday, November 2, 2026.</em></p> <p>Thousands of veterans who fell behind on their mortgages now have much higher monthly payments, according to an NPR investigation published Oct. 30. The cause was the Trump administration&#39;s decision to end a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program that helped them keep their homes .</p> <p>NPR looked at more than 40,000 VA loan modifications made from May 2025 through September 2026. A loan modification is a rewrite of a mortgage&#39;s terms after a borrower falls behind. NPR found that 63% of those veterans ended up with higher monthly payments. That is more than 26,000 veterans .</p> <p>More than 15,000 saw their payments rise by at least $150 a month, and more than 700 saw increases of $1,000 or more. For comparison, only 2% of modified loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big government-sponsored mortgage companies, came with higher payments .</p> <h2>What the program did</h2> <p>The program was the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase program, known as VASP. It started under the Biden administration. When a veteran fell behind on a VA-backed loan, VASP rolled the missed payments into a new mortgage at a 2.5% interest rate .</p> <p>The VA ended VASP on May 1, 2025. It did so through an administrative decision, with no vote in Congress . Mortgage industry and housing groups had told Congress that shutting it down without a replacement would mean higher payments and more foreclosures .</p> <p>Their warning held up. Without VASP, a struggling veteran&#39;s main option was a standard loan modification at today&#39;s much higher interest rates. Industry data show foreclosures on VA loans reached a 10-year high after the program ended, NPR reported .</p> <blockquote><p>It was developed by unelected bureaucrats at the VA in direct defiance of Congress</p><p>&mdash; Derrick Van Orden, U.S. representative, R-Wis.</p></blockquote> <h2>One veteran&#39;s numbers</h2> <p>NPR described the case of Scott Boyd, an Army veteran who lives near Columbus, Ohio. He bought his home with a VA loan in 2021 and fell behind after a layoff and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His lender told him VASP was an option, but the program ended before he could use it .</p> <p>His modification raised his interest rate from 2.75% to 6.75% and stretched his loan to 40 years. His payment went up $1,181 a month. Before, about half of each payment paid down his loan. Now more than 90% goes to interest . Boyd told NPR he felt so defeated .</p> <h2>Who pushed to end it</h2> <p>Republicans on the House Veterans&#39; Affairs Committee led the opposition. On April 3, 2025, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., released a statement attacking VASP. He argued that the VA chose to purchase loans at an average of $292,000 instead of reinstituting the partial claim program for an average loan delinquency of $22,500 . He said of the program:</p> <blockquote><p>This was a foreseeable outcome of abruptly ending a program without a replacement in place</p><p>&mdash; Matthew Douglas, Housing Policy Council, which represents large mortgage companies</p></blockquote> <p>Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., and Van Orden also issued a joint press release that welcomed the decision: &quot;Today, the Trump administration rightfully put an end to VA&#39;s VASP program&quot; . NPR reported that neither Bost nor Van Orden answered its requests for comment on the new findings .</p> <p>Van Orden is on the ballot Tuesday in a tight reelection race against Democrat Rebecca Cooke, Raw Story noted. It reported that he has declined to answer questions about the fallout .</p> <p>In a statement, a VA spokesperson said &quot;many leading voices in Congress supported the termination of VASP, which put the entire VA home loan program at risk&quot; .</p> <h2>A replacement that came late</h2> <p>Van Orden wrote the bill for VASP&#39;s replacement, called the VA Partial Claim Program, and Congress passed it with support from both parties . President Trump signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act on July 30, 2025 .</p> <p>Under the partial claim program, a veteran who completes a three-month trial payment plan has the overdue amount paid off. The VA pays that money to the loan company, and it comes due only when the home is sold, refinanced or paid off . VA Secretary Doug Collins said the department was &quot;grateful to Congress and President Trump for creating VA&#39;s Partial Claim Program&quot; .</p> <p>But the VA announced the details only in June 2026, more than a year after VASP ended . Loan companies were given six months to put it in place , and most did not yet offer it when NPR published . The new program also does nothing for the more than 26,000 veterans who were already moved into costlier loans .</p> <p>That matters because the gap was predictable. In June 2025, NPR reported that about 80,000 veterans were behind on VA mortgages and heading toward foreclosure, and that Collins had refused to commit to a foreclosure pause .</p> <blockquote><p>These are veterans that are already financially distressed — they were already in trouble</p><p>&mdash; Mark Takano, ranking member, House Veterans&#39; Affairs Committee, D-Calif.</p></blockquote> <p>Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the House Veterans&#39; Affairs Committee, said the VA or Congress could move the affected veterans back into lower-cost loans .</p> <p><em>Read the original, with every source linked, at <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/trump-va-s-end-of-mortgage-rescue-raised-payments-for-veterans-npr-finds">thegopfiles.com</a>. Republished under The GOP Files' <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/republish">free republishing terms</a>.</em></p> <img src="https://thegopfiles.com/api/rp/trump-va-s-end-of-mortgage-rescue-raised-payments-for-veterans-npr-finds.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border:0;width:1px;height:1px">

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Sources

1. NPR (via New Hampshire Public Radio), “Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Thousands of veterans are paying the price” (2026-10-30). nhpr.org/2026-10-30/trumps-va-killed-a-home-loan-program-tho
2. Raw Story, “Vulnerable Republican scrambles away from his push to scrap veterans' loan rescue” (2026-10-30). rawstory.com/derrick-van-orden-veterans-loan/
3. FOX 10 Phoenix, “Veterans hit with higher mortgage payments after VA cuts loan program” (2026-10-30). fox10phoenix.com/news/trump-administration-veterans-loan-cha
4. NPR (via WFAE), “Trump's VA killed a home loan program. Thousands of veterans are paying the price” (2026-10-30). wfae.org/united-states-world/2026-10-30/trumps-va-killed-a-h
5. Office of Rep. Derrick Van Orden, “Van Orden releases statement on phasing out VASP program” (2025-04-03). vanorden.house.gov/media/press-releases/van-orden-releases-s
6. The American Legion, “VA launches Partial Claim Program to help veterans avoid home foreclosure” (2026-06-24). legion.org/information-center/news/veterans-benefits/2026/ju
7. The Close, “Pennymac rolls out VA partial claims ahead of November deadline” (2026-08-10). theclose.com/news-va-partial-claim-rollout/
8. NPR (via WLRN), “Trump's VA cut a program that's saving vets' homes. Republicans have questions” (2025-06-19). wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/2025-06-19/trumps-va-cut-a-progra

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