5-YEAR VA FORECLOSURE PROGRAM: GAO SAYS THE DEPARTMENT LACKS A PLAN TO SHOW WHETHER IT WORKS
By VA Headlines staff · Published Nov 11, 2026 · Source dated November 10, 2026 (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported on November 10, 2026, that the Department of Veterans Affairs has taken steps to implement its new Partial Claim Program — a foreclosure-avoidance tool for borrowers with VA-guaranteed home loans — but has not developed a comprehensive plan to assess whether the program works. GAO made 1 recommendation: that VA expeditiously develop such a plan. VA did not provide comments on the report. The program is authorized for 5 years, ending July 30, 2030, and would need congressional reauthorization to continue.
How the Partial Claim Program works
The Partial Claim Program is intended to help borrowers with VA-guaranteed loans avoid foreclosure if they miss mortgage payments. Under the program, GAO says, VA reimburses the loan servicer for a borrower's missed payments and certain fees, allowing the borrower to become current on the loan. The borrower then repays that amount — the partial claim — without interest when they sell or refinance the home, when they pay off the loan, or when the loan reaches maturity. The servicer collects the payment and sends it to VA.
VA guarantees millions of home loans and bears financial risk when borrowers default and homes are foreclosed upon, GAO says. In July 2025, the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act authorized VA to plan and administer the Partial Claim Program for five years.
Lessons from the COVID-era program
VA previously offered a temporary partial claim program to help borrowers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and drew on that experience in building the new program, GAO found. According to VA, that earlier program involved documentation problems and difficulty tracking partial claim amounts. To address those issues, VA changed the program model and revised its application and payment processes. VA expects those changes to reduce administrative costs.
Implementation so far
GAO found that VA has taken steps to implement the new program. Those steps include developing policies and processes, soliciting stakeholder feedback, hosting training, developing oversight policies, and modifying its data system. The program became effective on June 15, 2026. Servicers have until November 28, 2026, to finish implementing it. VA officials told GAO they intend to begin analyzing program trends and outcomes in December 2027.
This is GAO's first annual report on the program. The Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026, requires GAO to report on the Partial Claim Program annually. GAO examined (1) how VA used lessons from previous loss-mitigation programs and what steps it has taken to implement the new program, and (2) the extent to which VA followed key program evaluation practices.
To do that work, GAO reviewed VA policies, processes, and plans; assessed VA's efforts against Office of Management and Budget program evaluation standards; and interviewed VA officials and representatives of 10 organizations, including lenders and servicers, trade associations, and consumer and veteran advocacy organizations, selected for high loan volume or subject-matter expertise. GAO also analyzed VA data from January 2022 through June 2026 and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data from 2022 through 2025, the latest data available, the report says.
What GAO says is missing
VA has planned a high-level approach to assessing program effectiveness, GAO found, but has not developed a comprehensive plan to do so. For example, VA's planned approach does not isolate the program's effects on borrowers or consider program design questions.
Without a comprehensive plan, GAO says, VA and Congress will not have timely and credible evaluation results needed to make decisions about the program and to identify changes that could improve outcomes for veteran borrowers, help prevent foreclosure, and reduce costs to taxpayers. Early planning is critical, GAO says, because the program is authorized only through July 30, 2030, and because VA needs to collect the data required for any evaluation.
The recommendation and what's next
GAO recommended that VA expeditiously develop a comprehensive plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the Partial Claim Program. VA did not provide comments on the report.
The official record published on November 10, 2026, is this first annual GAO review. It does not find that the program has failed or succeeded; it finds that VA does not yet have a comprehensive plan to measure that. Servicers' implementation deadline is November 28, 2026. The statutory authorization runs through July 30, 2030.
Related: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) News. VA billing audit: $1.9 billion in visits missing from review reports. More: all VA Headlines reports. How we report: Methodology & Corrections.
Veteran Lending: Early Planning Is Critical to Assessing VA's New Foreclosure Avoidance Program - GAO-27-108908, November 10, 2026
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