Credit scores · Honest guide
What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a House?
There is no single number. FHA insures loans down to a 500 score, VA and USDA have no federal minimum at all — and as of November 2025, neither does conventional lending, after Fannie Mae quietly removed its 620 floor. The real question isn’t whether your score qualifies. It’s what your score costs: on a $400,000 loan, the gap between the lowest and highest credit bands is worth roughly $8,000 in pricing plus triple the mortgage insurance. Here’s the complete threshold-by-threshold reference.
Last updated July 2026
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The credit score you need, the short version
The official floors are far lower than almost anyone believes: FHA insures from 500 (with 10% down; 580 for the 3.5%-down option), VA and USDA set no minimum in their rules, and since November 16, 2025, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting no longer applies a hard 620 minimum to conventional loans. The national average FICO is 715 — comfortably above every one of them.
Two things close the gap between those floors and reality. First, lender overlays: most lenders impose their own minimums, typically 580–640, regardless of what the agencies allow. Second — and this is the part the “minimum score” articles skip — your score sets the price. On a conventional loan it drives both a pricing adjustment (LLPA) and your PMI rate, a two-part step function where the thresholds that move real money are 620, 680, 740 and 780.
This is the reference article of our credit cluster: exact minimums by program, the value of every 20-point band in dollars, which of your three scores actually gets used, and the requirements for special cases. For the buying journey with damaged credit, see our bad credit guide; for raising the number, our credit-building playbook.
The reference
The official minimums, program by program
Every floor, with the rule behind it — and the overlay reality on top.
The 2026 minimums
FHA — 500, in two tiers. A “decision credit score” of 580+ gets the 3.5%-down option; 500–579 still qualifies but requires 10% down; below 500 FHA is unavailable (HUD Handbook 4000.1). Overlay reality: most lenders stop at 580, many retail banks at 620–640 — sub-580 approvals exist but take real lender-shopping.
VA — no minimum in the rules. The VA Lender’s Handbook sets no score floor; the real affordability gate is the residual-income test. Overlays typically run 580–620, with specialty lenders lower. Bonus: VA has no score-based pricing adjustments and no monthly mortgage insurance — a 580 veteran gets the same program pricing as a 760 veteran at the same lender. Details in our VA loan guide.
USDA — no floor in regulation; 640 in practice. A 640+ score earns an automated “Accept”; below 640 the file goes to manual underwriting with compensating factors.
Jumbo — 700–720 typical. Investor-set, since these sit above the $832,750 conforming limit ($1,249,125 high-cost); 680 possible with strong compensating factors, 740–760+ for best pricing, plus 6–18 months of reserves.
Non-QM — 620–660 typical, with some programs into the 500s at a steep price.
⚠️ The November 2025 change almost nobody has updated for
For decades, “you need a 620 for conventional” was the one hard rule. It’s gone. Effective November 16, 2025, Fannie Mae removed the 620 minimum from Desktop Underwriter — the system now “relies on its own comprehensive analysis of risk factors” instead of a score cutoff (Freddie Mac dropped its fixed minimum years earlier). Regulators stressed that underwriting standards didn’t loosen; the artificial gate was simply removed for files the risk model already liked.
What it means in practice — less than headlines suggest: lenders keep their own overlays, and with less than 20% down you still need a private mortgage insurer willing to insure the score, which re-imposes a de facto ~620 floor for most low-down-payment buyers. Treat 620 as the practical conventional minimum — but know that a strong sub-620 file with a big down payment now has a conventional path that didn’t exist before. And treat any article stating “620 is the conventional minimum, period” as pre-November-2025 content.
The real question
What each threshold is worth, in dollars
Approval is binary. Price is a staircase — and here’s the cost of every step.
Conventional loans price credit through loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) — a fee grid of nine credit bands (780+ down to ≤639) crossed with down-payment tiers. At 95% LTV (5% down), the credit charge runs from 0.25% of the loan at 780+ to 2.25% at ≤639. Each 20-point band you climb between 640 and 740 is worth about 0.25% of the loan — roughly $1,000 per band on a $400,000 loan, or about 0.06% in rate. Climbing the whole staircase from ≤639 to 780+ saves ~2% of the loan (~$8,000) — before mortgage insurance.
The second staircase: PMI
Private mortgage insurance is risk-priced too, and it’s the steeper of the two: roughly 0.46%/year at 760+ versus ~1.5% at 620–639. On a $400,000 loan with 5% down, that’s about $60/month versus $355/month — the credit score moves PMI more than the down payment does. (Full PMI mechanics, including how to cancel it, in our down payment guide.)
Stack the two staircases and the key thresholds emerge: 620 (practical qualification and PMI availability), 680 (where conventional starts beating FHA), 740 (both staircases step down hard), and 780 (the best tier — moved up from 740 in the 2023 grid redesign, another fact stale articles miss).
✅ Two escape hatches from the staircase
The first-time-buyer LLPA waiver — huge and underreported. Fannie waives all LLPAs for first-time buyers earning at or below 100% of area median income (120% in high-cost areas), and on HomeReady loans. For an eligible buyer, the entire score-based pricing penalty vanishes — a 660 first-timer pays the same LLPA as a 780 one: zero. PMI stays score-tiered, so the score still matters, but far less.
FHA’s flat pricing. FHA charges the same 1.75% upfront + 0.55% annual insurance whether you score 580 or 800 — no LLPAs, no PMI tiers. That score-blindness is exactly why FHA usually wins below ~680 and loses above it (where conventional is cheaper and its PMI cancels at 20% equity, while FHA’s insurance is permanent with less than 10% down). The rule: below 680, always price both. And VA sits outside both staircases entirely — no LLPAs, no monthly insurance.
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The fine print
Which of your scores actually gets used
You have at least three. The rules for picking one are precise — and worth knowing before a joint application.
The selection rules
Lenders pull a tri-merge report — one score from each bureau, using the classic mortgage FICO models (not the FICO 8 in your app; our credit-building guide covers why they differ). Then: three scores → the middle one. Two scores → the lower one. One score → that one (FHA explicitly allows a single score). On a joint application, pricing keys off the lowest borrower’s middle score — the reason adding a good-credit co-borrower doesn’t improve your rate tier, only your income picture. No score at all? The no-score paths exist (priced at the lowest band, with homebuyer education) — the non-traditional credit route is covered in our bad credit and credit-building guides.
Timing: scores lock at the pull, but they’re not frozen forever — a rapid rescore can move you across a band boundary in 3–5 business days before locking (718→720 is real money), and new debt or balance spikes can trigger a repull that moves you the other way. Frozen bureaus must be thawed before the pull.
The 2026 scoring transition, in one paragraph
Since April 22, 2026, Fannie, Freddie and FHA also accept VantageScore 4.0 — same 300–850 scale, same band structure, floors unmapped and unchanged — but only through a limited pilot at the largest lenders; everyone else remains on classic FICO tri-merge. Practical takeaway: the thresholds in this article apply either way, and if your file is thin but your rent history is clean, ask whether your lender is a VantageScore 4.0 pilot participant — the new model scores rent and utilities the classic ones ignore.
Beyond the basics
Special situations: the score requirements nobody lists
Second homes, jumbos, assistance programs, refis — each has its own bar.
Property-type and loan-type minimums
Investment properties and second homes: conventional territory — same base floor, but occupancy surcharges of up to 4.125% of the loan stack onto the credit LLPA, and investor overlays push practical minimums to 680–700+. Condos: no separate score bar, but a 0.75% pricing add above 75% LTV, and the building itself must pass warrantability. Manufactured homes: overlays typically 620–660 plus a 0.5% pricing add. Construction loans: commonly 680+. 2–4 unit owner-occupied: same FHA floors; conventional adds 0.375–0.625% in pricing plus reserve requirements.
Refinances, briefly: conventional rate-term and cash-out sit around the same practical 620; FHA Streamline offers a no-credit-check option for existing FHA borrowers, and the VA IRRRL is similarly forgiving.
Down payment assistance: the minimums that decide real deals
Assistance programs impose their own floors on top of the loan’s: state Housing Finance Agencies typically want 620–660 (some 640, some tiering by income), while the nationwide Chenoa Fund reaches down to 600. If your plan depends on assistance — as it does for many buyers under 660 — check the DPA program’s minimum first, because it’s often the binding constraint, not the mortgage’s. Find your state’s programs in our state guides.
Context
What real approved buyers score — and what actually gets people denied
The gap between the floors and the market, and the myth about advertised rates.
The median score on new mortgages is 775 — evidence of a tight credit box, not a secret requirement. Averages by program tell the real story: FHA ~679 (with about 13% of FHA borrowers below 620), USDA ~700, VA ~725, conventional ~755. Sub-660 approvals are uncommon but routine at FHA; the floors in this article are used every day.
Three reality checks
1. The advertised rate assumes a score you may not have. Rate ads are built on 740–780+ borrowers with 20%+ down (Freddie Mac’s 6.49% benchmark reflects exactly that profile). At the program minimums, the LLPA-plus-PMI staircase adds materially to that number — always price your own band, never the billboard’s.
2. Credit isn’t even the #1 reason for denial. Debt-to-income is — about 35% of 2024 denials versus 29% for credit history, with the practical cliff at 50% DTI. Paying down a credit card does double duty: lower DTI and higher score. Run your ratios with our affordability guide.
3. Lenders disagree about you. Overlays vary so much that the same 610 file gets declined at one lender and approved at another, and pricing dispersion between lenders runs around half a point of APR — roughly $100/month. The CFPB estimates that failing to shop costs the average buyer about $300 a year. With a marginal score, shopping at least three lenders (including a broker) isn’t optional — it’s the whole game.
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Quick answers
Credit scores and buying: common questions
What credit score do you need to buy a house?
There’s no single number. FHA insures from 500 (with 10% down) and 580 (with 3.5% down); VA and USDA set no federal minimum; and since November 2025, conventional lending has no hard agency floor either — though lender overlays and PMI-company rules keep ~620 as the practical conventional minimum. The bigger question is cost: your score band sets your pricing and mortgage insurance, with 620, 680, 740 and 780 as the thresholds that move real money.
What’s the minimum credit score for an FHA loan?
500 — the lowest floor in mainstream lending. From 500–579 you need 10% down; from 580 up, just 3.5%. The catch is overlays: most lenders won’t go below 580, and many stop at 620–640, so sub-580 approvals require shopping for a low-overlay lender. FHA also prices everyone identically — the same insurance rate at 580 as at 800.
Did conventional loans really drop the 620 minimum?
Yes — as of November 16, 2025, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting no longer applies a 620 cutoff, relying instead on its full risk analysis (Freddie Mac dropped its fixed minimum years earlier). In practice the change is modest: lenders keep their own overlays, and buyers with less than 20% down still need a PMI company willing to insure the score, which keeps ~620 as the working floor for most.
What credit score gets the best mortgage rate?
780+ on conventional loans — the top tier since the 2023 pricing-grid redesign moved it up from 740. Between 640 and 740, each 20-point band is worth roughly 0.25% of the loan in pricing (~$1,000 per band on a $400,000 loan), and PMI falls from ~1.5%/year near 620 to ~0.46% at 760+. Advertised rates assume this top-tier profile, so always price your own band.
Which of my three credit scores do lenders use?
Lenders pull one score from each bureau (using the classic mortgage FICO models, not your app’s score) and take the middle of the three — the lower of two if only two exist, or a single score if that’s all there is. The number your banking app shows can differ from your mortgage score by 20–100 points, so get the real one via a lender pre-approval.
Will my spouse’s lower score hurt our application?
For pricing, yes: on a joint application the loan keys off the lowest borrower’s middle score, so a 780/620 couple prices as a 620 file. Options: apply in the stronger spouse’s name alone (their income must carry the debt-to-income math, and in community-property states the other spouse’s debts may still count on FHA/VA), or spend a few months raising the lower score first.
What score do I need for down payment assistance?
Usually 620–660 — assistance programs set their own floors on top of the loan’s, and they’re often the binding constraint. State Housing Finance Agencies typically require 620–660; the nationwide Chenoa Fund goes to 600. If your purchase depends on assistance, check that program’s minimum before anything else.
Is the rate I see advertised the rate I’ll get at the minimum score?
No — advertised rates are built on 740–780+ borrowers with large down payments. At the program minimums, pricing adjustments and risk-tiered mortgage insurance add materially to both rate and payment: the full gap between the lowest and highest conventional bands is worth about 2% of the loan in pricing plus triple the PMI. FHA compresses this gap (flat insurance), which is why it usually wins below ~680.
What score do I need for a jumbo loan or investment property?
Higher than the agency floors. Jumbo loans (above $832,750 in most areas for 2026) typically want 700–720, with 740–760+ for the best pricing and 6–18 months of reserves. Investment properties are practically 680–700+ once investor overlays and the heavy occupancy pricing surcharges (up to 4.125% of the loan) are counted.