OK here's what I found," VA does not require an appraisal, any income or employment verifications, no credit report and no termite report, yet the mortgage must have been paid as agreed for the last twelve (12) months and must be up to date at the time of refinancing."

Does this mean that we need to have paid for 12 months previously, or that there couldn't be any late payments for the past 12 months. I know it may seem obvious to you all, but it's not put in a very direct way for me to "get it". We are up to date with payments and have not had any late payments since we purchased in October, but we haven't owned the home for 12 months.

Anybody?

Sorry, but I first have to comment about 6.50% being high ... LOL ... when I first started in mortgages in the early 80's rates were 13.50%, so 6.50% will never seem like a high rate to me.

But back to your question ... I find nothing to indicate that you need to have owned your home for 12 months to do a VA IRRRL. And for you, paid as agreed for 12 months would mean that your payments since October have been on time. But, our guides don't say that you need to have been on time for 12 months, the VA will even look at loans that are currently past due.

So you should be OK. Call and talk to a Lender to ensure THEIR specific guidelines are the same.

Thank you for your response! LOL I know 6.5 doesn't seem like a high rate - our first mortgage rate 18 years ago was 10% and we were ecstatic to refinance to 7.5%. But a percentage point would make a big difference to us now. I'd hate to miss out. Will check with my lender.