Calculate your available VA loan entitlement, required down payment, and max $0-down loan amount using 2025 FHFA county loan limits.
What it means
If you've never used a VA loan, or you paid off your VA loan and had your entitlement restored, you have full entitlement — and since 2020 there's no maximum loan amount for $0 down. If you have an active VA loan, you have partial entitlement, and the county loan limit caps how much new guaranty is available.
The VA guaranties 25% of any VA loan. For partial-entitlement borrowers, that pool of guaranty is capped at 25% of the county's conforming loan limit. The baseline 2025 limit is $806,500; high-cost counties (e.g., San Francisco, Honolulu, NYC) go up to $1,209,750. Borrow more than your remaining guaranty supports, and the VA requires a 25% down payment on the overage.
Available entitlement = 25% × county limit − entitlement already used. Max $0-down loan = available entitlement × 4. Required down payment on a larger loan = (loan amount − max $0-down loan) × 25%. Lender DTI rules apply on top of all of this.
FAQ
Basic entitlement is $36,000 — a holdover from older VA loan caps. Bonus entitlement is the additional guaranty up to 25% of the county loan limit. Modern VA loan math just uses 25% of the county limit as the total guaranty pool, which already includes both tiers.
Pull your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) at va.gov. It states exactly how much entitlement is tied up in your existing loan. Roughly, used entitlement equals 25% of your existing VA loan's original amount.
Yes, two ways. (1) Pay off the existing VA loan in full and have the property no longer be VA-collateral. (2) Use the one-time restoration if you've paid off the loan but kept the property. Once restored, you're back to full entitlement.
The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act (2020) removed VA loan limits for full-entitlement borrowers. The VA still guaranties 25%, but there's no ceiling — your lender's DTI requirements become the actual cap.
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Pick your state and county for the 2025 loan limit, then enter your loan amount. If you already have a VA loan, the partial-entitlement mode shows how the math changes.
VA guaranties 25% of the loan. With full entitlement that's unlimited; with partial entitlement, the county limit caps the guaranty pool.
Your entitlement covers the VA's 25% guaranty requirement.
Lender DTI rules will apply, but the VA imposes no cap.
25% of the county loan limit.
FHFA conforming loan limit for Anderson County, TX.