The Quick Read: A lender dates the clock from the first payment due date printed on the note of the VA loan you are paying off. It does not use the closing date, the application date, or the day you mailed your first check. The refinance cannot close until the later of two dates: your sixth consecutive monthly payment on the old loan, or 210 days after that first due date. Both tests have to pass, and the second one usually controls.
Key Terms Defined
- Seasoning: The age of the loan being refinanced, measured against the VA’s minimum before a new guaranteed refinance can close.
- First payment due date: The date the note says your first monthly payment is owed. It is not the day you paid it.
- Note date: The date you signed the promissory note at closing. It sits well before the first due date.
- Closing date: The day the loan is signed and funded. It is not the start of the seasoning clock.
- Type I and Type II cash-out: Type I means the new loan, including the funding fee, does not exceed the payoff of the old loan. Type II means it does.
Which Date Starts the Clock?
The clock starts on the old loan’s first payment due date. That is VA’s published policy for VA-to-VA cash-outs, and it follows the statute’s wording.
VA cash-out estimate
Seeded with an example value, a typical balance, and a round cash request at the first-use fee; change any field.
Editable benchmark: 7.18% as of November 5, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not a VA cash-out refinance quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $350,000 home value, a $193,000 current balance, the full-value VA cap with the first-use funding fee financed, a thirty-year term at the current Freddie Mac benchmark, and property taxes and insurance estimated at typical national rates. Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conventional benchmark, a market reference and not a VA cash-out refinance quote; a VA loan is priced by the lender at lock. The total loan, funding fee included, is capped at the program leverage on the reasonable value; the fee follows the tier chosen. The cash available is what the cap allows less the balances paid off and the fee, before closing costs, which are not included. The HELOC line is the line program’s combined loan-to-value ceiling applied to the same value and balance. Taxes and insurance are editable estimates. The debt-to-income figure is a guideline; residual income decides a VA file. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
Under 38 U.S.C. § 3709, VA cannot guarantee a refinance until the later of two dates. One is the date you have made at least six consecutive monthly payments on the loan being refinanced. The other is 210 days after that loan’s first payment due date. VA Circular 26-20-25, Change 1 applies the same seasoning to cash-out refinances of an existing VA-guaranteed loan.
VA Circular 26-19-22 is written for the interest rate reduction loan, but it is the clearest official statement of how the test is calculated. If the old loan is not seasoned by the date the refinance closes, VA cannot guarantee it. That circular also says VA’s audit looks for evidence that the seasoning requirement was met.
One caution. Older regulation wording referred to payments “made” rather than “due.” VA’s current circulars use the due-date method. Confirm the exact test with the loan officer before you lock a closing date.
How the Lender Dates It, Step by Step
Across the wholesale programs Lendmire places VA files with, the dating work follows the same order. Each step is a document check, not a judgment call.
1. Classify the new loan. The lender looks at the final loan amount. If it, with the financed funding fee, stays at or under the payoff, it is Type I. If it goes over, it is Type II. VA Circular 26-19-05 sets out the two types.
2. Identify the loan being paid off. If it is VA-guaranteed, the seasoning check applies. If it is FHA, USDA or conventional, VA’s own seasoning rule does not reach it.
3. Pull the first payment due date from the note. The closing disclosure from the old purchase or refinance should show the same date, which gives a second document to match against.
4. Count 210 days forward from that due date. The new loan’s note date has to fall on or after day 210. As a plain illustration: a first payment due May 1 puts day 210 on November 27 of the same year.
5. Verify six consecutive posted payments. The servicer’s payment history is the evidence. Paying ahead does not shorten the 210-day count, which is why that test usually controls in a clean file.
6. Document the benefit and the disclosures. VA’s Cash-Out Refinance User Guide lists an Initial and a Final Cash-Out Disclosure, plus at least one net tangible benefit. Those go into the file with the seasoning evidence.
7. Order the appraisal and underwrite. The cash-out reaches up to 100% of the appraised value, including the financed funding fee. Full credit and income underwriting applies, and residual income is the controlling test.
Why “210 Days From Closing” Comes Out Wrong
A borrower who counts 210 days from the closing date of the loan being paid off gets a date that is too early. The clock starts at the first payment due date, not at closing.
Picture a borrower who closed a VA purchase in early March. The note sets the first payment for May 1. Counting 210 days from the early March closing puts the date in late September. Counting from May 1 puts it on November 27. A file that assumes September and schedules the new cash-out closing for then is off by roughly two months.
The comparison below shows which dates count.
| Date | Starts the 210-day clock? | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| First payment due date | Yes | Note, closing disclosure |
| Note date | No | Signed note |
| Closing date | No | Closing disclosure |
| Date first payment was made | No | Servicer history |
| Application date | No | Loan file |
Worked Calendar: On-Time Case and Missed-Payment Case
Take the May 1 first due date from above. These are modeled dates, not a quoted VA example.
On-time case. Payments post every month from May 1 forward. The sixth consecutive payment is due October 1, so the payment test clears before the 210 days run out. The 210-day test controls. The earliest eligible note date is November 27.
Missed-payment case. The borrower skips the July payment and catches it up later. The six-consecutive-payment test now restarts its count from the payment that follows the gap. The sixth consecutive payment therefore falls later than it would have, and if it lands past November 27, the payment test controls instead. Statute says “later of,” so the later date wins.
The takeaway: paying early never helps, and paying late can move the date out. Keeping every payment on time is the simplest way to protect the earliest closing date.
Where the General Rule Breaks
The due-date method is the rule. Several situations bend it or add to it.
Non-VA payoff. VA Circular 26-19-05 limits seasoning to VA-guaranteed loans being refinanced. If you are moving an FHA, USDA or conventional loan into VA, VA’s own seasoning rule does not apply. A lender may still add its own waiting period, and that varies by lender. The program details are subject to lender guidelines.
A prior refinance. A new note carries its own first payment due date. A VA cash-out that closed recently restarts the clock for the next one. Lendmire’s piece How a VA Lender Counts Seasoning Between VA Cash-Out Refinances walks through that back-to-back case.
Modifications and assumptions. VA has addressed in a proposed rule that a fundamental change in the contract terms can reset the count. See the Federal Register notice. It was a proposal, so treat it as a flag to raise with the lender, not a settled rule. Servicing transfers, deferrals and forbearance months are the same: ask the lender how the servicer’s record will be read.
Records that disagree. Say the note shows one date, the servicer record another, and the borrower remembers a third. The note controls the due date. The payment history controls what posted. A lender will not guess. It will ask the servicer for a corrected record, and that is where files stall.
The statutory carve-out. Section 3709(d) says subsections (a) through (c) do not apply where the new principal is larger than the payoff. That sounds like a seasoning exemption for cash-out. It is not treated that way. VA’s cash-out rule and circulars apply seasoning to VA-to-VA cash-outs. The statute is on the GPO site if you want to read it directly.
What a Seasoning Miss Costs
If the loan is not seasoned on the title-recording date, VA cannot guarantee the refinance. VA Circular 26-20-16 says there is no cure for seasoning violations, though VA may allow an indemnification agreement for the life of the loan. That circular concerns the rate reduction loan, but it shows how seriously VA treats the error. Closing a day early is not a rounding issue.
So the working habit is simple. Pull the note first. Count from the printed due date. Set the closing on or after the earliest eligible day, not on the last day you hope works.
Myths That Cause Bad Dates
“There is no waiting period on a VA cash-out.” For a VA-to-VA cash-out, there is one. The confusion usually comes from non-VA payoffs, where VA’s rule does not apply.
“Six early payments meet the test.” Both tests must pass. Early payments do not shorten the 210 days.
“Seasoning is only a lender overlay.” For VA-to-VA cash-outs it is a federal VA requirement. For non-VA payoffs, any wait is a lender or investor choice.
“A missed payment doesn’t matter.” The payment test needs consecutive payments.
“Both loan types work the same.” Type I and Type II differ on recoupment. The lender certifies recoupment only for Type I, per VA Circular 26-18-30. The half-percent rate-reduction test and the fee-recoupment test that apply to the rate reduction loan do not apply to the VA cash-out as a whole.
What the Borrower’s Decision Looks Like
The decision is whether to wait for the earliest eligible date or restructure the plan. Waiting keeps the current payment in place. Moving early is not available if the old loan is unseasoned.
- Request the note and the servicer’s payment history before you pay for an appraisal.
- Ask the loan officer to name, in writing, the earliest eligible note date and which document supports it.
- Net tangible benefit is a separate test. A cash-out must meet at least one of VA’s eight listed benefits, per the Circular 26-19-05 disclosure exhibit.
- Occupancy applies. A VA cash-out is for the home you live in.
- Plan the new loan’s own first payment date too, since the next refinance counts from it.
Within the program envelope, a VA cash-out can reach 100% of the appraised value with no mortgage insurance. Subject to lender guidelines, the wholesale programs Lendmire works with start at a 580 decision score. The funding fee is financeable. It runs 2.15% for a first-use cash-out refinance and 3.3% after, and it is waived for exempt veterans. Residual income controls the underwriting, and the 41% debt-to-income figure is a guideline, not a cap. Every figure is subject to full file review. None of it is a commitment to lend.
Lendmire’s VA cash-out refinance program page covers the program side. For a borrower with a higher debt load, Lendmire’s article How a VA Cash-Out Lender Counts a Lower Payment for a High-DTI Veteran covers that separately.
If you are weighing a cash-out refinance against keeping the loan you have, Lendmire can help you compare the programs and the equity each one reaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 210 days start at closing?
No. It starts at the first payment due date on the VA loan you are paying off. That date usually falls after the closing date, so a count from closing comes out too early.
Do the six payments have to be consecutive?
Yes. VA’s circular uses the phrase consecutive monthly payments. A skipped or late month can move the date out, since the later of the tests controls.
Does a non-VA loan have to season for a VA cash-out?
VA’s own seasoning rule is written for VA-guaranteed loans being refinanced. An FHA, USDA or conventional payoff is not covered by it. A lender may still add its own waiting period, so ask before you plan around a date.
Can a lender fix a closing that happened too early?
Not by curing it. VA says there is no cure for seasoning violations, and it may allow an indemnification agreement for the life of the loan. That is why the date check comes before the closing date is set.
Does a prior refinance reset the clock?
Yes. The new note has its own first payment due date, and the next VA cash-out counts from it.
For your own numbers, request a scenario review with Lendmire.
About Lendmire
As a mortgage broker (NMLS# 2371349), Lendmire helps homeowners and home buyers in 16 states with FHA, VA, conventional and jumbo purchase and refinance loans arranged through wholesale lenders. Lendmire is never the lender; program terms are set by the lender and the agency guidelines. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
2. VA Circular 26-20-25, Change 1
5. VA’s Cash-Out Refinance User Guide
7. 38 U.S.C. § 3709 (GPO, 2023 edition)
10. Circular 26-19-05 disclosure exhibit
This article is part of Lendmire’s VA cash-out refinance program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How a VA Cash-Out Lender Applies a Credit Floor Overlay · How a VA Cash-Out Lender Counts a Lower Payment for a High-DTI Veteran · How a Lender Treats an Unpermitted Addition on a VA Cash-Out
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Compliance and disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage broker and is not a direct lender, depository institution, financial advisor, or tax professional. Content in this article is general market analysis and educational information — not financial, legal, or tax advice for any specific situation. Lendmire does not guarantee loan approval; every transaction is subject to underwriting by the funding lender. Mortgage pricing and loan program guidelines are subject to change at any time without notice and vary by borrower characteristics, property type, and state regulations. Lendmire complies with Equal Housing Opportunity. Licensure verification: NMLS Consumer Access.