What’s the lowest score I can have without affecting my eligibility for a mortgage?

What’s the lowest score I can have without affecting my eligibility for a mortgage?

Unless you’re a veteran who qualifies for a home loan from Veterans Affairs, you’ll need credit score of at least 500. You’ll need to meet that same minimum to qualify for a 10% down payment for a loan through the Federal Housing Administration.

If you don’t meet those requirements, getting a parent, spouse or someone else with better credit to cosign for your loan could improve your chances of approval for a traditional mortgage. Otherwise, you may need to work on improving your credit before applying for a mortgage.

What credit score do mortgage lenders look at?

About 90% of lenders use your FICO Score, the most widely used among other credit scores. But different versions of FICO Score are used for different types of loans.

When applying for a mortgage loan, your lender will likely pull these three scores:

• FICO Score 5 based on Equifax data
• FICO Score 2 based on Experian data
• FICO Score 4 based on TransUnion data