What credit score do you need to buy a house? The program floors are lower than most buyers expect: a 620 middle score for a conventional loan, a 580 for FHA with the standard 3.5 percent down, and lender-set thresholds that mostly land around 640 for VA financing. Those floors settle eligibility only. Mortgage pricing runs on tiers, and the space between barely eligible and well priced can be worth three quarters of a percent in interest rate on the exact same loan. Let's walk the whole scale, from the score lenders actually pull to the five factors that build it.
Per Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines, conventional loans have historically needed a 620 credit score, though Fannie dropped that as a hard automated-underwriting floor in late 2025 -- 620 now mainly governs manually underwritten files and lender overlays. Per FHA guidelines, 580 qualifies you for the standard 3.5 percent down payment, and the program technically reaches down to 500 with a larger down payment, though in practice 580 acts as the floor because so few lenders will work below it. VA does not publish pricing tiers the way Fannie and Freddie do, so the practical thresholds are set by lenders, and most land at 640 for good terms. All of these are program figures that change, and individual lenders layer their own stricter overlays on top, so confirm current requirements with a lender rather than a screenshot.
One more distinction matters at the bottom of the range. Below roughly 640, an automated approval gets less likely, and a manual underwrite comes with tighter debt-to-income limits and extra compensating factors. A low score can restrict how much home you qualify for even after you clear the eligibility bar. And if a lender has already said no, we wrote a separate playbook on what to do after a mortgage denial. The rest of the FHA rulebook, down payment included, is in our guide to FHA loan requirements.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac publish their pricing matrix in writing: each credit tier pays a defined premium. On a conventional loan with 5 percent down, the spread between a 620 and a 740 ran about three points in fee when we recorded, and since nobody putting 5 percent down pays three points in cash, it shows up instead as roughly three quarters of a percent or more in interest rate. (Pricing spreads like these reflect the market as of this episode, 11/15/2022, and lender pricing moves; confirm current numbers with a lender.) A 680 pays about one point more than a 740, call it a quarter percent in rate, which is why we treat 680 as the score where conventional pricing becomes reasonable.
FHA and VA have no published matrix, but the investors buying those loans price by score anyway. Dropping from 680 to 640 costs about an eighth to a quarter percent in rate. Dropping toward 580 costs five eighths to three quarters of a percent, which gets punitive fast.
Private mortgage insurance compounds the effect on conventional loans. PMI is priced on credit too, and unlike the rate tiers it keeps improving all the way up to about an 820 score. Below roughly 700, the combined hit from rate pricing and PMI pricing is the reason so many buyers end up in FHA financing instead: the total monthly payment is simply lower. So the targets we give buyers are simple. Get to 640 so an automated approval stays likely. Get to 680 for good terms on any program. Get above 740 if you want the best conventional pricing.
A mortgage lender pulls a three-bureau report from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax and uses the middle of the three scores. With only two scores, we use the lower one. With one, we use that score, and the file gets harder, because thin-credit borrowers often struggle to get an automated approval at all. We had a retired client with a single score whose file only cleared once she was added as an authorized user on a few of her husband's accounts.
That middle score usually runs lower than the number in your credit card app, and it lands in a distribution most people misjudge. We have vetted credit on 1,300+ closed loans, and the most common self-report we hear is some version of "my credit's pretty good, a little over 700." The average American score is 716, so a little over 700 is average, and about 45 percent of Americans score 740 or above: 20 percent sit between 800 and 850 and another 25 percent between 740 and 799. Roughly 21 percent fall between 670 and 739, 18 percent between 580 and 669, and 16 percent below 580. Scores under 500 are genuinely rare. You have to work at it.
Your credit score is a snapshot of a moment in time. The only two things that improve it are time and money.
Payment history is factual and heals slowly. A late payment stays on your report for seven years, public records for ten, and the model weights recent history hardest. A real example from our own files: a single missed payment from seven years earlier finally fell off a report, and the score jumped 40 points from one month to the next with nothing else changing. The flip side is just as dramatic. A borrower with an otherwise clean file and one recent store-card late, two or three months old, can take a 70 or 80 point hit.
Two mechanics are worth knowing. First, a payment does not report as late until it is 30 days past the due date, so paying a couple of days behind costs you late fees without ever reaching your credit report. Second, if you do go 30 days late, bring it current fast; each stage from 60 days to 90 days to collection status reports separately, and each hit is bigger. Mortgage lates are the harshest of all. The scoring models treat them more severely than a credit card late, and while most loan programs will tolerate one 30-day mortgage late in the past 12 months, jumbo loans for the most part will not.
The model compares your balances to your limits. Three cards with 5,000 dollar limits and 3,000 dollars owed is a 20 percent utilization ratio, which scores as reasonable use of credit. Owing 16,000 dollars against 15,000 dollars in limits tells the model you have blown past what your creditors agreed to lend you. This is Josh's favorite factor because it heals with money instead of time: when a client with three maxed-out cards proposes putting 25 percent down, the better play is often 5 percent down, cards paid down, and a rapid rescore so the improvement shows up before closing.
The model rewards a long track record because it has more behavior to judge. The first 800 score we ever saw belonged to a couple in their seventies with nearly 50 years of credit history and zero missed payments. Depending on your age there is little to do about this factor except keep your oldest accounts open.
A blend of revolving and installment accounts scores better than one lonely credit card. But manufacturing mix backfires in the short run, because a new account brings an inquiry and drops your average account age. Over 6 to 24 months it turns positive; in the months before a mortgage it is usually the wrong lever to pull.
Ten store-card applications in one weekend reads to the model like someone scrambling for money, and it prices that fear into your score. Mortgage shopping is treated differently. The CFPB gives you a 45-day window in which every mortgage inquiry counts as a single inquiry, specifically so you can compare lenders using real pulled-credit quotes instead of guesses. Auto and student loan shopping get the same treatment. We suggest doing your comparison inside two to four weeks rather than pushing the edge of the window.
Rent, utilities, and your cell phone bill are not part of the standard scoring model, and child support appears only if you are behind on it. Experian Boost can add some of those on-time payments, and it does work, with caveats: it lifts only your Experian score, the added items are flagged as self-reported, and some jumbo and non-QM lenders will make you remove it because they view it as manufactured. Boost helps if Experian is, or becomes, your middle score. If it is already your highest or stays your lowest, nothing about your loan changes.
We ran this comparison directly: moving from a 650 score toward an 800 can improve your rate by half to three quarters of a percent depending on the loan program, a bigger monthly difference than a few extra points of down payment produces, and raising a score is usually faster than saving tens of thousands of dollars. The tactics, from utilization moves to rapid rescores, get their own deep treatment in our guide to raising your credit score to buy a house. And if you want to know what your actual middle score qualifies you for, payment and all, a free Roadmap conversation takes about 20 minutes. Know your number before you shop, because every tier you climb comes straight off your payment.
Stop guessing what you can really afford
Tell Josh and his team your situation, and you'll get the exact price range you qualify for, the loan that gets you the most home for your money, and a step-by-step plan to close. They handle your loan directly, never a referral, and go far beyond a basic pre-approval, so you stop second-guessing, tour with confidence, and write offers sellers take seriously.
Build my Roadmap →Conventional loans have traditionally needed a 620 middle score, though Fannie removed that as a hard automated-approval floor in late 2025; confirm current requirements with a lender. Per FHA guidelines, 580 qualifies for the standard 3.5 percent down payment, and lower scores can qualify with a larger down payment. VA thresholds are set by individual lenders, and 640 gets good terms with most of them. Individual lenders add stricter overlays on top of these program floors, so confirm current requirements with a lender.
On conventional loans, 740 and above earns the best rate tier in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pricing matrix, while private mortgage insurance pricing keeps improving up to about an 820 score. On FHA and VA loans, 680 generally gets the best terms most lenders offer. At the time of the episode, the rate gap between a 620 and a 740 on a conventional loan with 5 percent down was roughly three quarters of a percent.
Mortgage lenders pull a three-bureau report from TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax and use the middle of your three scores. If you only have two scores, they use the lower one; with one score, they use it, but automated approval gets harder with thin credit. That middle score often differs from the single score a credit card or free monitoring app shows you.
Under the CFPB's rules, every mortgage inquiry inside a 45-day window is treated as a single inquiry, so you can compare several lenders with real pulled-credit quotes without stacking hits to your score. Auto and student loan inquiries get the same treatment. We suggest doing that shopping within two to four weeks rather than stretching to the edge of the window.
Late payments stay on your report for seven years and public records for ten, but the scoring model weights recent history most heavily. A late from years ago barely registers next to one from three months ago, and we have seen a seven-year-old late fall off a report and move the score 40 points. Bringing a late account current quickly, and keeping it from rolling to 60 or 90 days, limits the damage.
Under the standard scoring model, rent, utilities, and cell phone bills do not report to your credit at all. Experian Boost can add some of those on-time payments, and it does raise scores, but only at Experian, the items are flagged as self-reported, and some jumbo and non-QM lenders require you to remove it. It only affects your mortgage if Experian is, or becomes, your middle score.