I recently had a chance to talk with Jared Helton of Infinity Lending Solutions, about lower credit scores and how they affect getting a loan for a house.

Q. Are there minimum credit scores to get a loan for a house?
A. For most products, it is stated that there are no minimums on government backed loans. However, most lenders have instituted minimums.

Q. What are the practical minimum credit score limits for the different loan types.
A. FHA: 580 (a few lenders go to 520)
USDA: 600 (a few go to 580)
VA: 580 (a few go to 520)
Conventional: 620

Q. How do lower FICO scores affect loan pricing?
A. For government backed loans, like FHA, USDA, & VA lower credit scores have less affect on pricing with maybe as little as 0.25% for a lower fico between 580 – 619. On conventional loans, it’s a huge change on pricing. Some rates jump over 1% for lower credit scoring around 620.

Q. Is there a minimum score, below which getting a loan is next to impossible?
A. Pretty much below 520 is private money lenders only.

Q. What are some steps to improve your credit scores?
A. Schedule a review of your credit with someone that knows what they are  doing. I’ve written about it on my web-site too.

Q. Does talking to lenders and doing multiple applications hurt your credit score?
A. That is a huge myth that multiple inquires hurt your score.

All multiple “like” inquiries by mortgage companies made in any isolated 45-day period of time for TransUnion and Equifax (14 day period for Experian) are treated as one single inquiry for the calculation of the score.

Any mortgage inquiry made during the 30 days prior to the current broker/lender’s mortgage inquiry will be buffered out of any impact in the consumer’s score calculation.

Jared Helton, Partner, Infinity Lending Solutions