Yes, it can matter a lot. FHA has one set of guidelines, but individual lenders stack their own stricter rules on top, called overlays, and those vary by lender type. Two common overlays: - DTI caps. With an automated underwriting approval, FHA tops out at 46.99% housing and 56.99% total debt-to-income. Those hard ceilings apply only to AUS-approved files, and actual approval still depends on the full file and compensating factors, so they aren't available to every borrower. A bank might cap you well below that, sometimes in the high 40s, purely on its own policy. - Credit score floors. Some banks only do FHA at 640 and up, while a broker often has access to lenders who can go lower. Both FHA's guidelines and each lender's overlays change, so confirm current requirements. If you have excellent credit, strong income, and low debt, you may qualify fine anywhere, and the difference comes down to price. If your file is tighter on DTI or credit, a broker's wider menu of lenders can be the difference between an approval and a decline. Either way, talk to a few different lender types, and gather your quotes on the same day. Rates move daily, so quotes pulled on different days aren't a fair comparison. For a daily read on where the market sits, check the Mortgage News Daily rate table, right here on our site.