Check your VA loan file against the Lenders Handbook (M26-7): the VA loan QC playbook
Attach a VA loan file in Claude or ChatGPT and this playbook runs a quality-control check against the verbatim VA Lenders Handbook (M26-7) across three areas, plus a fourth for refinances: eligibility and entitlement, credit underwriting (VA residual income and DTI), property and valuation (Minimum Property Requirements), and, for an IRRRL or cash-out refinance, refinance (38 U.S.C. 3709, 38 CFR 36.4306 and M26-7 Chapter 6). Each item comes back No Exception / Exception / Needs-Doc with the rule cite. It’s a checker, not an approve/deny. Run it in your AI window.
🔒 Your loan file stays in your own AI session. The playbook runs through the Claude for Compliance MCP server, which has no upload. It’s a working draft for your underwriter or compliance review, not an underwriting decision and not legal advice.
What you upload
1003/URLA, Certificate of Eligibility, AUS findings, credit report, income docs, VA Form 26-6393 Loan Analysis, appraisal or Notice of Value: whatever you have. Missing documents are flagged as Needs-Doc, not failures.
What comes back: each check marked No Exception / Exception / N/A / Needs-Doc with the verbatim M26-7 cite, plus a summary of exceptions and the documents to pull.
What it checks
- Eligibility and entitlement: valid COE, entitlement, occupancy.
- Credit underwriting: credit history, income, residual income (by region and family size, from the VA Form 26-6393 tables in Chapter 4) and DTI, automated underwriting.
- Property and valuation: Minimum Property Requirements, the appraisal process, and the Notice of Value.
- Refinance (IRRRL or cash-out only; N/A for a purchase): the refinancing requirements of 38 U.S.C. 3709 and 38 CFR 36.4306, read alongside M26-7 Chapter 6. Chapter 6 dates from 2009 and predates the 2018 statutory requirements, so the playbook checks both.
Grounded in the verbatim M26-7 text the server returns; anything it can’t ground is flagged rather than filled in. Companion playbooks: FHA underwriting QC and USDA loan QC. The VA handbooks are also readable on this site: VA Servicer and Lender Handbooks.
Run it in your AI window
- 1 Connect the Claude for Compliance MCP server to Claude or ChatGPT. One time, about a minute, no account with us. Install steps →
- 2 Open a new chat, attach a VA loan file, and say:
Run the VA loan QC playbook on my loan file. - 3 Review what comes back. The playbook works from the verbatim regulator text the server returns and cites each section with its effective date, so every finding can be checked.
Claude works on any plan (the free plan allows one custom connector); ChatGPT needs Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu. The server has no upload: your documents stay in your own AI session.
Follow the rules this playbook uses
One email when the VA rules behind the VA loan QC playbook change: what changed, the new verbatim text, and the effective date.
Double opt-in: we send a confirmation link first. Privacy.
The playbook produces working drafts for underwriter and compliance review, not an underwriting decision and not legal advice. All playbooks.