From assumable VA loans to caregiver stipends to state property tax exemptions, these powerful benefits exist, but most military families never use them. Here's what you're probably leaving on the table.
The Benefits Gap
Military families earn substantial benefits through service, but a significant portion of those benefits go unclaimed every year. Some programs are buried in bureaucratic language. Others require you to know to ask. Many simply don't get talked about at the unit level. This guide is built around one premise: you earned these, and you should use them.
1. Assumable VA Loans
This is one of the most powerful and least understood benefits in today's market. A VA loan is assumable, meaning a buyer can take over a seller's existing mortgage, including the interest rate. If a veteran bought a home in 2020 or 2021 at a 2.75% or 3.0% rate, a qualified buyer (veteran or civilian) can assume that loan and keep that rate instead of taking a new loan at today's rates.
On a $400,000 loan, the difference between 2.75% and 7.0% is roughly $1,028 per month, and approximately $370,000 in total interest over the life of the loan. That's not a rounding error. That's a benefit worth pursuing actively.
The catch: the process takes 45 to 90 days and most real estate agents don't know how to navigate it. The veteran seller may also have their entitlement tied up until the loan is paid off or substituted. Work with an agent who has done assumption transactions before.
2. VA Disability Funding Fee Exemption
Veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 10% or higher are exempt from the VA funding fee, entirely. This fee is typically 2.15% on a first use with no down payment. On a $400,000 home, that's $8,600 saved at closing, rolled into nothing.
The exemption also applies to surviving spouses of veterans who died in service or from a service-connected disability. If you have a disability rating of any percentage, confirm your exemption with your lender before closing. Many veterans don't know to bring it up, and some lenders don't ask.
3. PCAFC, The Caregiver Stipend Most Families Don't Know Exists
The Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) provides monthly stipends, health insurance through CHAMPVA, mental health services, respite care, and travel benefits to caregivers of eligible post-9/11 veterans with serious service-connected injuries or illnesses.
Stipend amounts are based on the cost of equivalent home health aide services in the veteran's geographic area and the level of care required, they can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month. Yet the majority of eligible families are not enrolled.
Caregivers are also entitled to up to 30 days of respite care annually, in-home or through an adult day program, so they can rest while a professional steps in. Call the VA Caregiver Support Line at 1-855-260-3274 to find out if your family qualifies.
4. State Property Tax Exemptions for Disabled Veterans
Nearly every state in the U.S. offers property tax exemptions for disabled veterans, but the qualifying thresholds, exemption amounts, and application processes vary enormously. In South Carolina, a 100% P&T (permanent and total) disabled veteran receives a full property tax exemption on their home and one personal vehicle. In Texas, a 100% rating means a complete homestead exemption with no property tax on the primary residence, period.
These are thousands of dollars per year, in some markets, $5,000 to $15,000 annually, that veterans with qualifying ratings aren't claiming because they don't know the exemption exists in their state, or they moved and never re-applied.
If you have a disability rating and own a home, check your state's requirements immediately. The application is typically filed with your county auditor or assessor, and you'll need your VA award letter. Most exemptions are not automatic, you have to apply.
5. MyCAA, The Military Spouse Scholarship That Goes Unclaimed
MyCAA (My Career Advancement Account) provides up to $4,000 in tuition assistance for military spouses of active-duty servicemembers in pay grades E-1 through E-5, W-1 through W-2, and O-1 through O-2. The benefit is designed to help spouses build portable careers, ones that survive PCS moves.
Eligible spouses can use MyCAA for associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, graduate degrees, licenses, and certifications at accredited institutions. The funds are not a loan, they don't need to be repaid. Yet MyCAA is consistently underenrolled relative to eligible families, often because spouses don't know it exists or assume they don't qualify.
6. FMLA Military Caregiver Leave, 26 Weeks, Not 12
Most people know that the Family and Medical Leave Act provides 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. Fewer know that the military caregiver provision of FMLA provides up to 26 weeks, more than double, for employees who are the spouse, child, parent, or next of kin of a covered servicemember or veteran with a serious injury or illness.
This applies to both current servicemembers and veterans within five years of their discharge. If you are caring for a wounded, ill, or injured servicemember and you work for an employer covered by FMLA (50+ employees), you may be entitled to 26 weeks of protected leave in a single 12-month period.
7. Aid & Attendance Pension Benefit
Aid & Attendance is an enhanced VA pension available to veterans (and surviving spouses) who need help with daily activities, bathing, dressing, eating, or who are housebound or in a nursing facility. It provides additional monthly income on top of any pension the veteran already receives.
Rates in 2025 can reach over $2,300/month for a veteran with a spouse who also needs care. This benefit is largely unknown outside of VA social workers and elder law attorneys. If you have an aging veteran parent or spouse who needs in-home care or is in an assisted living facility, this benefit may apply.
8. SCRA Interest Rate Cap, Even After Activation
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) caps interest rates at 6% on debts incurred before a period of active duty, including credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, and student loans. What most servicemembers don't realize is that the benefit requires you to request it in writing, with a copy of your orders, from each creditor. It does not apply automatically.
If you were called to active duty and had pre-existing debt, you may be entitled to retroactive adjustment of interest charges, and potentially refunds of excess interest already paid. Many servicemembers are owed money they never collected.
9. Military Spouse Licensing Reciprocity
The Veterans Benefits and Transition Act (VBTA) of 2018 and subsequent state legislation has made it significantly easier for military spouses to transfer professional licenses, nursing, teaching, law, real estate, counseling, and dozens of other fields, when they PCS to a new state. Many states now offer expedited provisional licenses that allow spouses to work immediately while completing state-specific requirements.
But "easier" doesn't mean automatic. The process varies by state and by profession. Many spouses lose months of income at each PCS because they don't know about the reciprocity process or don't start it early enough. Begin the license transfer process before you arrive, not after.
10. Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP)
Prior to 2004, veterans who received both military retirement pay and VA disability compensation had the disability amount deducted from their retirement pay dollar-for-dollar, effectively negating the disability benefit. CRDP eliminated this offset for retirees with a combined disability rating of 50% or higher.
If you are a military retiree with a 50%+ VA disability rating, you should be receiving both your full military retirement pay and your full VA disability compensation simultaneously. If you are not, contact DFAS or your VA regional office immediately. Many eligible retirees either didn't know about CRDP or weren't automatically enrolled when it became available.
What to Do Next
This list isn't exhaustive, it's a starting point. The common thread across every item here is that these benefits require you to take action. They don't come automatically with service. The military system is not designed to proactively push every benefit to every eligible family. That's why resources like this exist.
If you have a disability rating, apply for your state property tax exemption today. If you're a caregiver, call the PCAFC line this week. If you're a military spouse with a professional license, start your reciprocity transfer before your next PCS. If you're buying a home with a VA loan, confirm your funding fee exemption before you close.
These are earned benefits. Use them.
Ready to put this into action?
Connect with a verified military real estate agent at your gaining installation, or start planning your PCS with our free Mission Planner tool.