Updated September 26, 2026: corrected the dates for the new credit score models and brought the rules and rates up to date. For the full step-by-step plan, read how to get mortgage-ready.
Spring kicks off the busiest home-buying season, and 2026 brought the biggest changes to mortgage credit rules in years. Some are already in effect. Others are still on the way.
Here's what changed, and what it means for the file a lender pulls on you.
1. The 620 Floor Is Gone in Fannie Mae's System, But Don't Get Comfortable
For loans run through Desktop Underwriter (DU), Fannie Mae's automated underwriting system, there's no minimum credit score on applications started on or after November 16, 2025. For years, 620 was the line. Below it, DU wouldn't approve a conventional loan.
Two things didn't change. Loans underwritten by hand still need a 620 on a fixed rate and a 640 on an adjustable rate. And lenders are allowed to set their own minimums on top of Fannie Mae's rules. Some kept a 620 floor of their own well into 2026, so ask a lender what its minimum is before you let it pull your credit.
Without a score cutoff, DU weighs the whole application instead: your credit history, your debt-to-income, your down payment and your savings. A low score is no longer an automatic stop. That means everything else on your report gets looked at harder.
2. VantageScore 4.0 Is In. FICO 10T Is Still Waiting.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac started accepting VantageScore 4.0 from a limited group of lenders in April 2026 and opened it to all approved lenders on September 9, 2026. FICO 10T has been approved, but as of September 2026 it can't be used on Fannie or Freddie loans, and there's no start date. Classic FICO is still accepted, and lenders still pull all three of your credit reports.
FHA is next. It will accept both VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T on loans with case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2027.
The biggest practical difference in the new models is trended data. Instead of a snapshot of your balances on the day your report is pulled, FICO 10T looks at 24 months or more of balance history, and VantageScore 4.0 uses trended data too. That lets a model tell someone paying balances down from someone running them up, even when both owe the same amount today.
The new models also count payments the old ones ignored. VantageScore 4.0 uses rent, utility and phone payments when they're reported to the bureaus. FICO 10T uses reported rent. Most landlords and utility companies don't report on their own, so this only helps if those payments actually show up on your file. VantageScore says its model can score about 33 million more people than conventional models.
3. Mortgage Rates Are Still Doing the Math For You
The average 30-year fixed rate was 6.46% the week of April 2, according to Freddie Mac's weekly survey. On September 24 it was 7.03%.
That average is the headline. The number that matters is the rate you personally qualify for, and your credit score is a big part of what sets it. Loans are priced in score bands, so a lower score means a higher rate or higher fees on the same loan.
Here's what that costs. On a $400,000, 30-year loan at 6.46%, principal and interest come to about $2,518 a month. Add half a percentage point and it's about $2,650. That's roughly $133 more every month, or close to $48,000 over the life of the loan.
What This Means If You're Buying Soon
If you're planning to make an offer in the next 90 days, you don't have time to dramatically rebuild your credit. You do have time to fix the things that are dragging your file down in ways the bureaus aren't going to catch on their own.
Start with what doesn't belong on your report: a paid collection still showing as open, a settled account still showing the original balance, a 30-day late from a billing error that was never disputed, or a charge-off past the Fair Credit Reporting Act's seven-year reporting limit. None of these require seven years of clean payments to fix. They require someone reading the report.
The other thing that matters: VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T look at where your balances have been heading, not only where they sit today. If you're carrying credit card debt, start paying it down now, across several statements, instead of counting on one big payoff the week before you apply.
The File Is the Loan
2026 opened more doors for buyers with imperfect credit than 2025 did. Fannie Mae's system no longer stops at 620, and the new models count rent you've paid on time when it's reported. But none of that helps if your report has errors on it that nobody has cleaned up.
If you're already working with Angelo, text him at 1-877-892-6691 before you apply for pre-approval so he can go through your report with you first. If you haven't met yet, set up a free consultation. He'll read your file the way an underwriter will and tell you what to fix before a lender sees it.