Ask any AI assistant what credit score you need to buy a house and you will get the same answer: 620 for conventional, 580 for FHA. Confident, specific, and repeated on roughly every mortgage website in America.
It is also out of date. Fannie Mae removed that 620 minimum in November of 2025.
What actually changed
For loan files created on or after November 16, 2025, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system no longer applies a hard minimum representative credit score. The number didn’t get lowered. It got removed, and replaced with a proprietary credit risk assessment that looks at the whole file.
That means a borrower who would have been rejected by a single number is now evaluated on everything around it — reserves in the bank, a low debt-to-income ratio, stable employment, how recent any trouble was and whether it is still happening. Those have always been called compensating factors. They used to be unable to save you from a hard floor. Now they are part of the decision.
Lenders still pull your scores. That requirement hasn’t changed, and your score still affects what you’re offered. What changed is that the score is no longer a gate that closes before anyone reads the rest of the file.
Why every AI still says 620
Because it was true for a very long time and the internet is full of pages that say so. Answer engines are summarizing a decade of consistent content. The guideline moved faster than the content did.
This matters less as trivia and more because of who it stops. The person with a 608 who read “you need a 620” and decided not to call anybody is the one this costs. They didn’t get denied. They denied themselves.
What the floors actually look like now
Here is the honest version, from someone who places these files across 40+ lenders rather than one.
Conventional
No hard agency minimum on the automated side as of the November 2025 change. In practice, individual lenders still set their own overlays, and mortgage insurance companies set theirs, so “no agency minimum” does not mean “any score works anywhere.” It means the answer now depends on which lender you’re in front of — which is a very different situation than a universal cutoff. More on conventional financing here.
The 600 to 619 band, specifically
This is where the change bites hardest, because it is where conventional buyers have historically been turned away at the door. The obstacle was rarely the agency — it was mortgage insurance. If no MI company would write the coverage, the loan didn’t exist regardless of what the underwriting system said.
I currently have mortgage insurance available down to a 600 score. That is a standing capability, not a favor someone did me once, and it is the specific reason a file in that band is worth a phone call now instead of a year of waiting.
VA
The VA itself has never published a minimum credit score. Every floor you have ever been quoted on a VA loan came from a lender, not from the VA. Lenders commonly set theirs in the low 600s, which is why veterans below that are routinely told no.
I have two lenders that will look at VA files down to a 500 score. That is not a typo and it is not a teaser — it is the actual floor, and it is why I keep saying a veteran who has been declined once has not been declined. VA loans are covered in full here.
FHA
FHA’s own program floor sits meaningfully below where most lenders will actually write a loan. Nearly every “FHA minimum” a buyer gets quoted is a lender overlay sitting on top of the real guideline. Same pattern as VA: the rule and the practice are two different things, and shopping the file is what finds the gap. FHA details here.
Investment property
If you are buying a rental and qualifying on the property’s income rather than your own, the score conversation changes again. Most lenders floor DSCR programs around 660. I have programs that go to 620. For an investor who has been told their score rules them out of rental financing, that is a real gap worth knowing about. How DSCR financing works.
The score you’re looking at probably isn’t the score I pull
A client asked me about this last week. He was watching three different numbers on three different apps and wondering which one counted. Fair question, and the answer surprises almost everybody: none of them, necessarily.
Consumer credit apps generally use a different scoring model than the one mortgage lenders are required to pull. Mortgage lending runs on a tri-merge report from all three bureaus using specific score versions, and those versions are often older and stricter than what a free app shows you. It is completely normal for the number on your phone to be materially different from the number on your loan file, in either direction.
So don’t celebrate or panic based on an app. And don’t pay for a credit-repair service based on one either.
Where the score stops mattering
The flip side of “my score is too low” is the borrower at the top who assumes more is always better. Pricing tiers do improve as scores rise, and then at some point they stop. Once you are comfortably into the highest tier, additional points are not buying you anything on the loan.
Which is worth knowing if you are delaying a purchase to push an already-excellent score higher. That effort has a ceiling, and you are usually better off spending the time on the down payment, the reserves, or finding the right house.
What actually decides the file
After twenty-plus years of this, the score is rarely the interesting part. What kills loans:
- Recent activity, not old activity. A collection from six years ago matters far less than a late payment from last month. Underwriters read the timeline, not just the number.
- Debt-to-income. This is the quiet one. Plenty of buyers with good scores get stopped here, and plenty of buyers with mediocre scores sail through because their ratio is clean.
- Reserves. Money left in the bank after closing is one of the strongest compensating factors in the file, and it is doing more work now than it did before the November change.
- Stability. Same job, same industry, consistent deposits. Boring is extremely valuable here.
Three things not to do
- Don’t close old credit cards. It shortens your history and raises your utilization. It is one of the most common well-intentioned mistakes I see, and it usually makes the score worse right when you need it.
- Don’t pay off collections without asking first. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it restarts a clock or changes a reporting date in a way that hurts. It is a thirty-second question with a real answer, and it is free to ask.
- Don’t self-disqualify on a number you read somewhere. That number is out of date on this exact topic. If you have been told no, get a second read — the guideline that generated that no may no longer exist.
The practical answer
There is no longer a single number that answers “what credit score do I need to buy a house in Texas.” There is a range of programs with different floors, lenders with different appetites, and a file that gets read as a whole.
Which is exactly why working with a broker rather than a bank matters more on a credit-challenged file than on any other kind. A bank has one credit box. If you fall outside it, the answer is no, and that no tells you nothing about whether the loan is possible — only that this particular lender doesn’t do it. I get to go find the one that does. More on that on the low credit score mortgage page.
And it costs you nothing to find out, because I don’t charge a lender fee. Ever. If you’re ready to see where you actually stand, here’s how pre-approval works in Texas.
Don’t be mad at money. Shop your rate.
Been told your score is too low? Tell me the number and what happened, and I’ll tell you today whether it’s actually a problem. Ten minutes, free, zero lender fee. Call or text (512) 423-4663.
Russell Stout | Texas Mortgage Consultants, PLLC | NMLS #220896 | Company NMLS #1843758 | Equal Housing Lender. Program availability, credit score requirements, mortgage insurance availability, and terms vary by lender, program, and borrower qualification and are subject to change; this is not a loan offer, quote, or commitment to lend. Meeting a minimum credit score does not guarantee approval. All loans subject to credit approval.
Frequently Asked Questions
What credit score do you need to buy a house in Texas in 2026?
There is no longer one number. Fannie Mae removed its 620 minimum representative credit score for loan files created on or after November 16, 2025, replacing it with a broader credit risk assessment that weighs reserves, debt-to-income, and employment stability alongside the score. Individual lenders and mortgage insurance companies still set their own minimums, so the practical answer depends on the program and the lender rather than a universal cutoff.
Did Fannie Mae really get rid of the 620 credit score minimum?
Yes. For loan casefiles created on or after November 16, 2025, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting no longer applies a minimum representative credit score and instead uses a proprietary credit risk assessment. Lenders are still required to obtain credit scores, and a score still influences pricing, but it is no longer a hard gate on its own.
Can you get a VA loan with a 500 credit score?
It is possible with the right lender. The VA has never set a minimum credit score; the floors veterans are quoted come from individual lender overlays, commonly in the low 600s. Some lenders will review VA files down to a 500 score. Approval still depends on the full file, including debt-to-income, residual income, and recent credit history.
Can you get a conventional loan with a credit score in the 600s?
Often yes, and the limiting factor is usually mortgage insurance rather than the loan itself. Historically many MI providers would not write coverage below the low 620s, which closed the door regardless of underwriting. Mortgage insurance is now available down to a 600 score through some providers, subject to program and borrower qualification.
Why is my Credit Karma score different from my mortgage score?
Because they use different scoring models. Consumer credit apps typically display a model built for general credit monitoring, while mortgage lenders pull a tri-merge report from all three bureaus using specific score versions required for mortgage lending. It is normal for those numbers to differ, sometimes significantly, in either direction.
Does a higher credit score always get you a better mortgage?
Only up to a point. Pricing improves as scores rise through the tiers, but once a borrower is in the top tier, additional points generally do not change the loan terms. Delaying a purchase to raise an already strong score usually accomplishes less than improving reserves or debt-to-income.
