VA Loan Documents: the COE, DD-214, and Everything Else

• Certificate of Eligibility (COE) — the lender can usually pull it electronically in minutes; when the system can't match the record, the fallback documents below matter.
• Veterans/retirees: DD-214 (member 4 copy) — the discharge document that proves qualifying service.
• Active duty: a Statement of Service signed by the command — DD-214 doesn't exist yet.
• Guard/Reserve: points statements (NGB-22/retirement points) proving qualifying service.
• Surviving spouses: additional VA forms apply.

• LES (Leave & Earnings Statement) instead of pay stubs for active duty — 30-day freshness, like any pay stub
• W-2s and tax returns — 2 years
• Bank statements — 2 months, all pages
• BAH/BAS and disability income documentation where used for qualifying

• Purchase contract; the VA appraisal and pest inspection are lender-ordered but drive the timeline
• Child-care statement (a VA quirk many checklists miss)
• Divorce decrees / child support where applicable

DD-214s get lost — veterans can reorder from the National Archives, but that takes weeks, so ask on day one, not at underwriting. And conditional items are the VA file's defining feature: a checklist that asks "active duty, veteran, or reserve?" up front and shows only the right eligibility documents saves everyone the most confusing round-trip in the file.