From an analysis of SNe 1972E , 1980N , 1981B , 1981D , 1983R , 1998bu , 1999cl , and 1999cp we find that the intrinsic V - K colors of Type Ia SNe of typical luminosity ( i.e .
with multi-color light curve shape ( MLCS ) parameter -0.4 \lesssim \Delta \lesssim + 0.2 mag ) suggest a uniform color curve .
V - K colors become bluer linearly with time from roughly one week before B-band maximum until one week after maximum , after which they redden linearly until four weeks after maximum .
V - H colors exhibit very similar color evolution .
V - J colors exhibit slightly more complex evolution , with greater scatter .
The existence of V minus near infrared color relations allows the construction of near infrared light curve templates that are an improvement on those of Elias et al .
( 1985 ) .

We provide optical BVRI and infrared JHK photometry of the Type Ia supernovae 1999aa , 1999cl , and 1999cp .
SN 1999aa is an overluminous “ slow decliner ” ( with \Delta = - 0.47 mag ) .
SN 1999cp is a moderately bright SN unreddened in its host .
SN 1999cl is extremely reddened in its host .
The V minus near infrared colors of SN 1999cl yield A _ { V } = 2.01 \pm 0.11 mag .
This leads to a distance for its host galaxy ( M 88 ) in agreement with other distance measurements for members of the Virgo cluster .