What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House?

Minimum credit score by loan type (2026)

These are the program minimums set by the agencies that back each loan. Individual lenders can require a higher score than the program floor — an "overlay" — so if one lender turns you down at the minimum, another may still say yes.

Sources: HUD / FHA (FHA thresholds), Fannie Mae (conventional), VA and USDA program rules. Lender overlays vary.

Which credit score do mortgage lenders actually use?

This is the part most guides skip, and it matters: the number you see on a free app like Credit Karma or your bank's dashboard is very likely not the number your mortgage lender pulls. Free apps typically show a FICO 8, FICO 9, or a VantageScore. Mortgage lenders generally pull older, mortgage-specific models instead — often called FICO Score 2, 4, or 5 (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax, respectively). The two numbers are usually close, but they can diverge, and there's no reliable public formula for the exact gap on your file — so don't treat your free-app score as the one that will show up on your loan estimate.

The second piece almost nobody explains: lenders pull scores from all three bureaus and qualify you on the middle score, not the average and not the highest. Per Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, if two scores come back the lender uses the lower; if three come back, it uses the middle one. For a joint application, each borrower's own middle score is calculated first, then the lower of the two borrowers' middle scores qualifies the whole loan — so one weaker file can set the number for both of you. An underwriter (the person or automated system at the lender who reviews your file and makes the final call) applies this rule.

Where can I check my real mortgage credit score for free?

Honestly, there's no perfect free equivalent. Free apps show FICO 8 or a VantageScore because they're cheap to license — not the mortgage-industry models above. A full tri-merge mortgage credit report pulling the actual FICO 2/4/5 scores is generally only pulled once you formally apply (the lender pays a fee per pull). The practical approach: use a free app for your general trend, then get a real read from a lender via a soft-pull prequalification before formally applying — many can give a sense of your mortgage-model tier without a hard inquiry.

Your score does more than get you approved — it sets your rate

Approval is the low bar. The bigger effect is on price. Lenders sort borrowers into credit tiers and charge higher rates as scores fall, because a lower score signals more risk. The CFPB's own rate-explorer tool shows the same loan quoted at meaningfully different rates across score bands on the same day.

How much does that matter? Consider a $300,000, 30-year fixed loan. At an illustrative 6.5% the principal-and-interest payment is about $1,896; at 7.0% it's about $1,996 — roughly $100 more a month, or about $36,000 over the life of the loan, for the same house. (Those rates are illustrative, near the Freddie Mac weekly average of about 6.58% in July 2026; the point is the gap a half-point creates, not the exact quote.)

The credit tiers lenders actually price against

Pricing generally improves in bands rather than point by point, so the goal before applying is to cross into the next tier up. Common FICO ranges lenders reference:

• 760–850 — Exceptional / Very good: the best pricing lenders offer.
• 700–759 — Good: strong rates, near the top tier.
• 680–699 — Good (lower): still solid, slightly higher pricing.
• 660–679 / 640–659: approvable on most programs; noticeably higher rates.
• 620–639: the conventional floor; FHA is often better value here.
• 580–619: FHA territory (3.5% down); conventional is harder.
• 500–579: FHA only, with 10% down.

Because the improvement is tiered, someone at 618 has an outsized reason to reach 620 (conventional eligibility), and someone at 738 has real reason to reach 760 (top-tier pricing). A few points near a boundary can be worth far more than the effort to get them.

Can I buy with no credit score or a thin credit file?

Possibly, through manual underwriting — a human underwriter reviews your file directly instead of relying on an automated score-based approval. HUD's FHA handbook (4000.1) allows this for borrowers with no score or a "thin" file, using nontraditional credit references in its place: on-time rent, utilities, insurance, and similar recurring payments, typically documented for about the last twelve months. Some conventional programs allow a similar path. It's slower and more document-heavy, usually with a lower maximum debt-to-income ratio and a larger down payment, but it's a real route in if you've simply never used traditional credit. Not every lender offers it, so get a prequalification conversation going early with one that does.

Do medical bills or collections block a mortgage?

Somewhat more leniently than other debts, but they still matter. Newer FICO models (9 and 10) weigh unpaid medical collections less heavily than non-medical ones and disregard paid collections entirely — FICO made the change because unpaid medical debt proved a weaker predictor of repayment risk. HUD's FHA guidance goes further: medical collections generally don't have to be paid off and are commonly excluded from the debt-to-income calculation, while non-medical collections above a certain balance typically have to be factored in or paid down. The catch: mortgage lenders mostly still pull the older FICO 2/4/5 models, not FICO 9 or 10, so don't assume a medical collection is invisible to your mortgage score — treat it as a real but partial break, and confirm with your lender.

How long after bankruptcy or foreclosure can I buy?

Commonly cited FHA "seasoning" periods, though a lender overlay or extenuating-circumstances exception can shorten or lengthen these:

Reflects commonly cited FHA/HUD 4000.1 policy; conventional (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac) periods are generally longer. Confirm with your lender — policy can change.

Do student loans hurt my mortgage approval?

Not directly through your score, as long as you're paying on time — but they count toward your debt-to-income ratio (DTI), the share of your gross monthly income going to debt payments, which lenders cap alongside your score. For borrowers on an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, FHA underwriting uses the actual documented IDR payment when it's above $0; if it shows as $0 or the loans are in deferment, FHA generally uses a small percentage of the balance as a stand-in instead. Conventional loans have their own, similar treatment. It's the monthly payment counted against your income that matters, not your total balance. See how student loans and other debts move your qualifying picture with the Debt Impact Calculator.

How to raise your score before you apply

Two factors dominate a FICO score: payment history and credit utilization (how much of your available credit you're using). Most pre-application gains come from those two:

• Pay every bill on time. Payment history is generally treated as the single biggest factor in a FICO score, and a recent late payment tends to hurt disproportionately more than an equivalent stretch of on-time payments helps — ESTIMATED, a commonly described pattern in FICO's own consumer education material rather than a fixed point value. Set autopay for at least the minimums.
• Lower your utilization before the statement closes. Scores read the balance reported on your statement date, not just what you eventually pay. Paying cards down so you report a small percentage of your limit can lift your score quickly.
• Don't close old accounts. Closing a card shortens your average account age and shrinks your available credit — both can push your score down right when you need it up.
• Avoid new credit right before applying. A new card or car loan adds an inquiry and a new balance, and it changes your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) — the share of your monthly income going to debt — that underwriters check.
• Dispute errors on your reports. Pull all three bureau reports, and correct anything wrong — a mistaken late payment or an account that isn't yours can be dragging your score down.

How long does this realistically take? There's no single verified timeline — it depends what's dragging the score down. A maxed-out card can move a utilization-driven score within a billing cycle or two once the lower balance reports. Rebuilding after a late payment or a collection takes longer, often several months to a year-plus of clean history, since those items fade gradually rather than resetting. If you have time before applying, pull your reports first to find the specific thing worth fixing.