Code of Federal Regulations Title 38. Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief § 38.36.4333 Maintenance of records

(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. The holder shall maintain records supporting their decision to pursue a partial claim payment under the COVID–19 Veterans Assistance Partial Claim Payment program established under subpart F of this part. Such records shall be retained a minimum of 3 years from the date of any incentive paid in accordance with § 36.4319(a) or, in the case of a partial claim payment under the COVID–19 Veterans Assistance Partial Claim Payment program, the date the veteran's guaranteed loan is made current under such program, whichever is later, 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.