What is the minimum credit score to buy a house in 2026?

For FHA loans: 580 with 3.5% down, or 500 with 10% down. For conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae, there is no longer a hard minimum score requirement as of November 2025 — though individual lenders typically still require 620 or higher. VA and USDA loans have no official minimum, though most lenders set their own floor around 580–620.

Does a lower credit score disqualify you from a mortgage?

A score below 500 will disqualify you from FHA financing. Below 620, many conventional lenders will decline. But between 580 and 699, you can still get a mortgage — the penalty isn't disqualification, it's a higher interest rate and higher PMI. The cost difference between a 620 and a 760 score on a $300,000 loan is roughly $156–$433 per month depending on your loan type and down payment.

How much does your credit score affect your mortgage rate?

Significantly. A 620 score vs a 760 score on the same conventional loan can mean a rate 1.0–1.5% higher. On a $300,000 mortgage at 6.51%, a 1.5% rate premium adds around $280/month — $100,800 over 30 years. The PMI difference can add another $300–$500/month on top of that if your down payment is below 20%.

What credit score gets the best mortgage rate in 2026?

740 and above generally qualifies for the best rate tier on conventional loans. Scores from 720–739 are usually one tier below. The difference between 740 and 800 is typically small — most lenders max out their best pricing at 740–760. Improving from 620 to 740 makes a much bigger difference than going from 740 to 800.

Can I improve my credit score quickly before buying a house?

The fastest legal moves: pay down credit card balances below 30% utilisation (ideally below 10%), dispute any errors on your credit report through annualcreditreport.com, avoid opening new accounts in the 6 months before applying, and make sure every bill is paid on time. Significant improvement typically takes 3–6 months of consistent behaviour. Rapid Rescore programmes through your lender can sometimes update your score within days after you pay down balances.

You don't need a 700 credit score to buy a house

You've been checking your credit score every few weeks, watching it hover somewhere in the 640s, and telling yourself you need to get to 700 — or maybe 720, or maybe 750 — before you can even think about a mortgage. The number keeps shifting because nobody told you what the actual threshold is. So you wait. Meanwhile, home prices in most markets are up another 2–5% and the goalpost moves further away.

Here's the actual rule, in plain numbers: FHA loans accept 580 with 3.5% down. They'll go as low as 500 with 10% down. And as of November 15, 2025, Fannie Mae — the entity that backs most conventional mortgages in the US — eliminated its hard minimum credit score requirement entirely (Fannie Mae Selling Guide, November 2025). The floor you've been aiming for may not exist in the way you thought.

What a lower score does is raise your rate, and therefore your monthly payment. That's the real penalty — not disqualification, but cost. The question worth asking isn't "do I qualify?" but "how much is waiting to improve my score worth, in dollars, compared to buying now?"

Get this in your inbox every Friday.

One email. The number that matters and what it means for you.

The actual minimums by loan type

FHA loans have the most clearly defined floor. A 580 FICO score gets you the 3.5% down payment option. Drop below 580 to a range of 500–579 and you can still get an FHA loan, but you'll need 10% down. Below 500, FHA won't touch it (FHA.com, 2026). These are the official HUD guidelines — individual lenders can and often do set their own higher standards (commonly 620), but the programme itself starts at 580.

Conventional loans have changed significantly. Until November 2025, Fannie Mae required a minimum 620 score. That requirement was eliminated in the November 2025 update to the Selling Guide, which shifted emphasis to holistic underwriting — looking at DTI, reserves, down payment, and loan purpose rather than a single score cutoff. Lenders using automated underwriting (Desktop Underwriter) now assess the full picture. Some lenders still set their own 620 floor as a policy choice; others don't. It's worth asking directly (Fannie Mae Selling Guide, November 2025).

VA loans have no official minimum score from the VA. Lenders typically require 580–620 on their own. USDA loans similarly have no official floor, with lenders commonly setting 640 as their standard. The practical implication: before you assume you don't qualify, find out exactly which floor applies to your loan type — because FHA's real minimum is 580, Fannie Mae's hard floor no longer exists, and you may already be above the threshold you thought was blocking you.

What a lower score actually costs you per month

This is the number that matters. Mortgage pricing is tiered by credit score — lenders use risk-based pricing that adds a rate premium as your score drops. The tiers aren't fixed, but as a rough guide for a conventional 30-year loan in May 2026 at the benchmark 6.51% rate:

A borrower with a 760+ score gets the best available pricing — close to that 6.51% benchmark. A borrower at 720–759 might pay 6.7–6.9%. At 680–719, you're likely in the 7.0–7.3% range. At 620–679, expect 7.5–8.0% or higher depending on your lender and down payment (The Mortgage Reports, 2026).

Run that through real numbers: a $280,000 loan at 6.51% costs $1,769/month in principal and interest. That same loan at 7.75% costs $2,005/month — a $236/month gap, every month, for 30 years. That's $84,960 more over the life of the loan, for the same house, same neighbourhood, same everything. The only variable is the credit score at closing.

PMI adds a second layer. On a loan with less than 20% down, your PMI rate is also tiered by credit score. At 760+, PMI on a $280,000 loan might run $60–$90/month. At 620, the same loan's PMI can be $200–$300/month or more. That's another $140–$210/month premium on top of the rate difference (ConsumerAffairs, 2026). If you're weighing whether to buy now with your current score or wait to improve it, those two numbers — the rate gap and the PMI gap — are the actual cost of your decision. Put a dollar figure on it before you decide.

The maths of waiting to improve your score

Here's the calculation most people skip. Say your score is 640 and you could realistically get it to 740 in six months through focused effort — paying down balances, correcting errors, letting time do its work. At 740 you'd save roughly $280/month on a $280,000 loan compared to buying now.

Over six months of waiting, home prices in most markets will move. At the national pace of 0.9–2.4% annual appreciation in 2026, a $280,000 home might be $283,000–$286,000 by November. Your larger loan at the better rate may end up costing similar to — or more than — the smaller loan at the worse rate today. The maths doesn't always favour waiting.

The break-even depends on three things: how much your score will actually improve, how much prices move in your target market, and how much lower your rate will be. For someone hovering around 620 who could realistically get to 660 in three months (not 740), the improvement in rate is modest — perhaps 0.25–0.5% — and the price appreciation may outweigh it. For someone at 580 who could get to 680 in six months, the rate improvement is larger and waiting is more likely to pay off.

Three things that move your score fastest

If you decide waiting is worth it, focus on what actually moves the number. First, credit utilisation — the ratio of your balances to your credit limits. Getting every card below 30% utilisation helps; getting below 10% helps more. This can move your score 20–50 points within a single billing cycle if you're currently carrying high balances. Second, errors on your credit report. Pull your free report from annualcreditreport.com and check all three bureaus. Disputed errors that are resolved in your favour can produce immediate score improvements. Third, time. Every month of on-time payments rebuilds your history, and every month further you get from any past late payment reduces its impact.

What doesn't work: opening new credit cards to "improve your mix" (it temporarily lowers your score), or closing old cards you don't use (it hurts your utilisation ratio and average account age). Both are common advice that backfires. Stick to the three moves above and you'll get more score improvement in 90 days than most buyers manage in a year — and you'll know whether a delay is actually worth it before you've committed to one.

The call most people don't make

The most useful thing you can do this week costs nothing. Call two or three lenders — including a credit union, which often has more flexible underwriting than big banks — and ask specifically: "What is your minimum credit score for a conventional loan, and what rate would I qualify for today at my current score?" Get the actual numbers for your situation, not the national average. Then ask what rate you'd get at 700 and at 740, and calculate whether the monthly savings justify the time it would take to get there.

The math points toward this: if your score is above 620, you almost certainly qualify for a mortgage somewhere right now. Whether you should buy now or spend a few months improving your score first is a genuine calculation worth running — but it starts with knowing your real number, not the mythical 700 threshold you've been chasing.