(a)

(1) The holder shall maintain a record of the amounts of payments received on the obligation and disbursements chargeable thereto and the dates thereof, including copies of bills and receipts for such disbursements. These records shall be maintained until the Secretary ceases to be liable as guarantor or insurer of the loan, or, if the Secretary has paid a claim on the guaranty, until 3 years after such claim was paid. For the purpose of any accounting with the Secretary or computation of a claim, any holder who fails to maintain such record and, upon request, make it available to the Secretary for review shall be presumed to have received on the dates due all sums which by the terms of the contract are payable prior to date of claim for default, or to have not made the disbursement for which reimbursement is claimed, and the burden of going forward with evidence and of ultimate proof of the contrary shall be on such holder.

(2) The holder shall maintain records supporting their decision to approve any loss mitigation option for which an incentive is paid in accordance with §36.4319(a). Such records shall be retained a minimum of 3 years from the date of such incentive payment and shall include, but not be limited to, credit reports, verifications of income, employment, assets, liabilities, and other factors affecting the obligor's credit worthiness, work sheets, and other documents supporting the holder's decision.

(3) For any loan where the claim on the guaranty was paid on or after February 1, 2008, or action described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section was taken after February 1, 2008, holders shall submit any documents described in paragraph (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section to the Secretary in electronic form; i.e., an image of the original document in .jpg, .gif, .pdf, or a similar widely accepted format.

(b) The lender shall retain copies of all loan origination records on a VA-guaranteed loan for at least two years from the date of loan closing. Loan origination records include the loan application, including any preliminary application, verifications of employment and deposit, all credit reports, including preliminary credit reports, copies of each sales contract and addendums, letters of explanation for adverse credit items, discrepancies and the like, direct references from creditors, correspondence with employers, appraisal and compliance inspection reports, reports on termite and other inspections of the property, builder change orders, and all closing papers and documents.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 3703(c)(1))

(c) The Secretary has the right to inspect, examine, or audit, at a reasonable time and place, the records or accounts of a lender or holder pertaining to loans guaranteed or insured by the Secretary.

(The Office of Management and Budget has approved the information collection requirements in this section under control number 2900-0515)

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3703(c)(1))

[73 FR 6310, Feb. 1, 2008. Redesignated at 75 FR 33705, June 15, 2010, as amended at 80 FR 34319, June 16, 2015]