(U.S. Senate) – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester today released the following statement after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it lowered interest rates for VA Native American Direct Loans (NADL) from 6% to 2.5% to make housing more affordable for Native American veterans:

“This is a step in the right direction in getting Native American veterans access to quality, affordable housing, and I encourage every eligible veteran to apply for this benefit today. The fact is there’s still work to be done when it comes to delivering Native veterans the tools to buy, build, or fix homes on Tribal land, which is why I’ll keep fighting to pass my bipartisan bill to keep lowering interest rates and get this program working in a way veterans deserve.”

VA provides direct loans to Native American veterans through the NADL to help them buy, build, or improve a home on trust land. These loans give Native veterans the opportunity to obtain housing with no down payments, limited closing costs, and no monthly mortgage-insurance costs. The 2.5% interest rate for the NADL became effective on March 13^th and will be available for no more than 24 months. Veterans who close their NADL loans on or after March 13^th will automatically receive the 2.5% interest rate for the life of their loan, and veterans who currently have a NADL loan with an interest rate of 3.5% or higher will be able to refinance their loan with the lower rate.

A staunch advocate of improving Native veterans’ access to homeownership, Tester reintroduced his bipartisan Native American Direct Loan Improvement Act this Congress to reform the NADL program. His bill would also improve the marketing of the program to make it more accessible for Native veterans living on trust land, and allow Native veterans to use the program to refinance any other existing mortgage on the same property.

Native American veterans who are interested in the NADL program can contact an NADL coordinator by emailing NADL@va.gov or by calling 888-349-7541.