At around 590 the options are limited, and the first move is figuring out which door is actually open. - VA: if you are eligible, often the strongest path. VA itself sets no minimum credit score; the floors you see quoted (often 580 to 620) are individual lender overlays, so shopping lenders matters. - FHA: realistic at 590. FHA's floor is 580 for maximum financing (500 to 579 caps you at 90% loan-to-value), though many lenders overlay a 620 minimum. - Conventional: the long shot. The familiar 620 minimum now mainly governs manually underwritten loans and lives on as a common lender overlay rather than a hard automated-system floor, but in practice most conventional lenders still draw the line around 620. More equity improves the odds if a lender can make it work. Floors and overlays shift, so confirm current guidelines before you build a plan around any one of them. The bigger question is whether to refinance now or spend a short window raising the score first, because at 590 you are paying a meaningful premium on rate. A soft-pull review shows exactly what is holding the score down, and if a few fixable items are the drag, a short repair effort before you refinance can pay for itself. If you want us to look at your file and lay out the real trade-off, that is what the free Roadmap conversation is for.