FOR BUYERS - CREDIT
Credit Repair for Home Buyers
A practical, 6-month plan to lift your score enough to qualify — and get a better rate.
IN THIS GUIDE
1.
What score you actually need
There’s no universal number — it depends on the loan. FHA loans open up at 580 for the standard 3.5% down payment, and even a score as low as 500 can qualify with 10% down. VA loans (for eligible veterans) don’t set a government minimum at all, though most lenders look for around 620. Conventional loans are the strictest of the bunch, generally starting at 620 and getting meaningfully better terms the higher you go.
So the honest answer is: probably lower than you think, especially for FHA. The bigger question isn’t “do I have a 750” — it’s “which program matches where I am right now.” That’s a conversation worth having before you assume you’re not ready.
2.
Pull & read your free reports
Start at AnnualCreditReport.com — it’s the only site authorized to give you free reports from all three bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion), and you can pull one from each every week at no cost. Note that these reports show your credit history, not your score, so don’t expect a number here. What you’re looking for is accuracy: accounts you don’t recognize, balances that look wrong, or old debts still showing as open.
Read all three, not just one. Bureaus don’t always have identical information, and a mistake on one report can quietly drag down a score a lender pulls without you knowing it’s there. If something looks off, that’s the starting point for a dispute — not something to shrug off as background noise.
3.
Disputing errors that hurt you
If something on your report is wrong — an account that isn’t yours, a payment marked late when it wasn’t, a debt that should’ve aged off — you have the legal right to dispute it, and it’s free. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the bureau has 30 days (45 in some cases) to investigate. If they can’t verify the item, they’re required to correct or remove it.
File the dispute directly with the bureau reporting the error, and back it up with documentation — a payment receipt, a letter, anything that supports your case. Doing this in writing, rather than only online, gives you a paper trail if the bureau doesn’t resolve it the first time. It’s not a workaround or a gray-area move; it’s a right you already have, and it’s often the fastest way to move your score in the right direction before you apply for a loan.
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4.
Paying down credit utilization
Utilization — how much of your available credit you’re actually using — is one of the fastest levers you can pull on your score. The common benchmark is staying under 30% of your limit on each card, but if you want real movement, under 10% is where you start seeing bigger gains. A $9,000 limit with a $4,500 balance is 50% utilization; drop that to $900 and you’re at 10%.
The good news is this isn’t a years-long fix like paying off old collections can be. Utilization is recalculated every time your balance is reported, so paying down a card — even just before the statement closes, not the due date — can show up as a real bump within a billing cycle or two. If you’re deciding where to put extra cash before applying for a loan, this is usually the highest-leverage place to start.
5.
Your 6-month game plan
Months 1-2: Get the full picture. Pull your reports from all three burears at AnnualCreditReport.com and ready them line by line. Dispute anything wrong: incorrect balances, accounts that aren’t yours, outdate negative items. This is the foundation everything else builds on, so don’t skip it even if your score already looks decent.
Months 3-4: Attack utilization. Focus extra payments on paying down credit card balances, aiming for under 30% of each limit (ideally closer to 10% if you can swing it). This is where youll likey see the fastest score movement, since it updates as soon as your balances report, not months later like dispute resolutions can take.
Months 5-6: Get real numbers, not guesses. Once your reports are clean and your utilization is down, talk to a lender about where you actually stand. This is the point to reach out and figure which loan program fits your situation, so you’re walking into house-hunting with an exact number.
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