Summary This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Loan Guaranty (LGY) Office of Loan Management - Portfolio Loan section (LM-PL). The LGY program provides Veteran home ownership opportunities through the provision of federal home loan guarantees. As a byproduct of this guaranty, LGY sometimes refunds loans from holders, or makes direct loans to qualified Native American Veterans, and has a Portfolio Servicer under contract who services these loans on behalf of the Department. Responsibilities Specific duties include: Conducts extensive audits and approvals of various property preservation and tax invoices including reimbursable expenses, reimbursable taxes, property taxes for Real Estate Owned (REO) properties, performing fees, nonperforming fees, and penalties and interest to ensure proper payment and compliance with contractual requirements and applicable laws. Prepares complex, comprehensive reports including the tracking of any pattern or trend that could indicate fraud or misuse of funds. Utilizes their expertise to identify areas of opportunity to improve billing processes and presents recommendations to senior management. Prepares written responses, or fact sheets on high profile and politically sensitive Congressional inquiries as required. Responses reflect the decisions of the Department in final draft form when submitted to senior level executives for signature. Reports may be reviewed by higher level management, but the Loan Specialist's recommendation is generally accepted without major changes. Exercises expertise in reviewing benefit deduction cases to instruct the service provider when Veteran benefit amounts are insufficient to meet newly established payment amounts occurring due to a change in escrows. Conducts approvals for loan modifications, short sales, and deed-in-lieu requests as government representatives due to inherently governmental function to afford borrower every opportunity to retain their home or avoid foreclosure. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. The full performance for this position is GS-12.. Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday 6:00AM-6:00PM Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework:Available - This position is eligible for situational (ad hoc) telework only. The selectee is required to report to the official duty station each scheduled workday. Telework may be approved only on a case-by-case basis with supervisory approval. Routine or recurring telework is not authorized for this position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Loan Specialist (General); Loan Specialist PD-37445A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Requirements Conditions of Employment As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Upon completion of your probationary, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest. You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements I-9 Acceptable Documents. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement:07/27/2026. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR): There is an IOR that must be met to qualify for the GS-1165 series. In order to be found qualified position, your resume must demonstrate you have: Experience that demonstrated competence in agricultural, commercial, realty, or other @types of loans. Experience may have been gained in such work as reviewing and passing upon applications for agricultural, commercial, bank or mortgage loans; servicing a loan portfolio of a bank or other loan association; performing financial analysis of commercial concerns for investment purposes; appraising real estate to determine property valuation; or similar work; OR Education Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major study -- finance, business administration, economics, accounting, insurance, engineering, mathematics, banking and credit, law, real estate operations, statistics, or other fields related to the position, such as agriculture, agricultural economics, farm, livestock or ranch management, or rural sociology AND TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements. For a GS-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11 level. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS-12 Grade Level: Specialized Experience: It is defined as experience in either Special Adaptive Housing (SAH) and/or Loan Administration performing tasks in Post Audit (PA), Adequacy of Servicing (AOS) or Mortgage Servicing. Examples of this include but not limited to: Experience in conducting nationwide audits of private sector Mortgage Servicers participating in VA's Loan Guaranty Program Ensuring these entities are following Program regulations, policies, and procedures as well as to identify and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. Experience in preparing written reports of audits, audit actions, documenting quality review findings; Possessing an in-depth knowledge of governing statutes, regulations, policies, processes and procedures pertinent to VA or another national home loan program (for example - loan servicing, SAH, PA, and AOS). Education Substitution: There is no Educational Substitution at the GS-12 level. Combining Education & Experience: If you do not fully meet the length of experience and education described for a specific grade level (e.g. have six months of experience and some coursework but not a degree), the two can be combined to total 100% of the requirement. Click here for more information. Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week. Physical Requirements: The work performed is usually sedentary, but does involve walking, bending, lifting and carrying of objects and the operation of a motor vehicle. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit. Additional Information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. The Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/. Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments. https://appsupport.usastaffing.gov/hc/en-us/sections/28980686389652-Reasonable-Accommodation-Information)
