PCS Entitlements: What the Move Pays You, and What It Means for the House

What PCS entitlements do I get, and how do they affect buying a house?

By Kyle Melvin · NMLS #1486450 · REV Mortgage · Published Sep 21, 2026

Short answer

A PCS comes with a set of entitlements that most people leave partly unclaimed: dislocation allowance for the cost of setting up a new household, temporary lodging expense or allowance for the days between houses, per diem and mileage for the drive, a personally procured move that pays you for moving yourself, and a weight allowance that decides what the government ships. None of them is income for the loan, but several of them are cash to close, and one — DLA — is timed exactly for the moment you are writing checks. Claim them through your finance office and the Joint Travel Regulations, and tell your loan officer which ones are coming.

Orders come with money attached, and a surprising amount of it goes unclaimed or gets claimed late. None of it is income for the mortgage. Several pieces are cash at exactly the moment a purchase needs cash, and one of them can hurt the loan if you take it without telling anyone.

The entitlements, in the order you will meet them

Dislocation allowance (DLA). A one-time payment meant to cover the cost of relocating a household — deposits, hookups, the things a move makes you buy. It is paid with dependents or without at different rates, once per PCS, and it can be requested in advance so that it arrives before the move rather than after. For a buyer, DLA is the entitlement timed for closing: it is your own funds, documented on the LES, and it arrives when the checks are being written. The rules are in the Joint Travel Regulations, and your finance office processes it.

Temporary lodging expense (TLE) and temporary lodging allowance (TLA). TLE reimburses lodging and meals for a limited number of days at the old or new CONUS station while you are between houses; TLA is the OCONUS version and runs longer. They are paid for days actually spent in temporary lodging, so a quick closing means fewer days claimed, not a lost benefit. A buyer with a closing date three weeks after report date is living on TLE for those weeks; plan the days so they cover the gap.

Per diem and mileage. The drive is reimbursed: mileage for each vehicle up to the allowed number, and per diem for the traveler and dependents for the authorized travel days. It is settled on the travel voucher after you arrive. It is not cash to close in any practical sense, but it is money you are owed, and the voucher should be filed the week you report.

Personally procured move (PPM). If you move yourself instead of having the government ship your household goods, DoD pays you a percentage of what it would have cost to move you, and whatever is left after your expenses is yours to keep. The incentive can be substantial on a heavy, long-distance move. The catch for a buyer is timing: the PPM claim is settled after the move, with weight tickets, and it often lands after closing. Treat it as money that arrives later, not as cash to close, unless it has already been paid.

Weight allowance. The government ships up to a weight limit set by grade and dependency status, and a household over the limit pays the excess. It does not affect the loan. It affects the house: the buyer who is over the allowance and shipping everything is the one who should not also be buying appliances at closing.

Advance pay. Up to three months of basic pay, interest-free, repaid over the following months, available for a PCS. It is a loan, and a lender treats it as one: the repayment reduces the income you qualify on for as long as it runs. It can bridge cash to close when DLA and the PPM have not arrived; take it only after the loan officer has run the numbers with the repayment in them.

How a lender sees each one

VA underwriting cares about two things here: what counts as income, and what counts as your funds to close. None of the entitlements above is recurring income. DLA, a settled travel voucher and a paid PPM are your funds — documented, non-borrowed, usable for closing costs and any down payment a second-tier purchase requires. Advance pay is borrowed, and a borrowed down payment is a problem on any loan. BAH, which is recurring, is the entitlement that actually qualifies you, and the BAH page covers how lenders count and gross it up. The orders-as-income page covers closing before the new pay starts.

Tell the loan officer, at pre-approval, which entitlements are coming and roughly when. The reason is not the amounts; it is that a file with DLA already on the LES closes cleanly, and a file that is waiting on a PPM settlement for cash to close does not.

Where the rules live

The Joint Travel Regulations are the source for all of it, and the rates inside them change every year — this page does not print them. The DTMO publishes the current JTR and the per diem and mileage tables; Military OneSource has the plain-language version and a PCS checklist. Your finance office and the transportation office process the claims, and the PCS checklist on this site puts the claims on the same timeline as the purchase.

Questions people also ask

Does DLA count as income for a VA loan?

No. It is a one-time allowance, not recurring income, so it does not help you qualify. It does count as your own funds toward closing costs once it is paid, and the lender can document it from the LES or the finance office.

Can I use PPM money for my down payment or closing costs?

Yes, once it is paid. A personally procured move reimburses you for moving yourself, and what is left after your costs is yours. Timing is the problem: the payment often lands after closing. Tell the lender it is coming and do not count on it for cash to close unless it has arrived.

Do I get TLE if I close on a house right away?

TLE covers temporary lodging at the old or new station around the move, up to a set number of days, for CONUS moves. It is paid for the days you are in temporary lodging, so a fast closing means fewer TLE days, not a forfeited entitlement. TLA is the OCONUS equivalent.

Is advance pay a good idea for a purchase?

It is an interest-free loan against your own future pay, repaid over the following months, and it is available for a PCS. A lender treats the repayment as a debt against your income. It can bridge cash to close; it also lowers the income you qualify on for the repayment period, so raise it with the loan officer before you take it.