Credit score for a conventional loan after Fannie Mae dropped 620

Most pages that answer this question still say “620.” For years that was the right answer for Fannie Mae loans, and it’s still the number many loan officers quote out of habit. It stopped being Fannie Mae’s rule for automated approvals in November 2025.

That change matters less than the headlines suggested, though. A lender can still say no at 610, and if it says yes, the price of the loan at 610 is very different from the price at 740. Several rules, some of them the lender’s own, now set the bar for a conventional loan.

What Fannie Mae changed in November 2025

Fannie Mae’s automated system, Desktop Underwriter (DU), used to require a representative credit score of at least 620. With two or more borrowers, it required an average median score of at least 620. Fannie’s DU Version 12.0 release notes removed both for new loan casefiles created on or after November 16, 2025.

The floor wasn’t replaced with nothing. Fannie says it was replaced by “a minimum credit risk standard” based on DU’s own evaluation of the credit risk factors listed in Selling Guide section B3-2-03. In plain terms, the score went from a gate to one input. A low score can now be offset by the rest of the file, or not, and DU makes that call instead of a fixed cutoff.

Two other details from the same release:

• Lenders still have to order credit scores for every borrower from the permitted score versions before Fannie will buy the loan. DU flags files where it appears they didn’t.
• The 720 minimum score for borrowers financing a second home or investment property while holding seven to ten financed properties was dropped too.

Where 620 and 640 still apply

The minimum is gone only for DU. Fannie’s Selling Guide (section B3-5.1-01, updated April 22, 2026) still sets a 620 minimum for manually underwritten fixed-rate loans and 640 for manually underwritten adjustable-rate loans. Higher minimums can apply depending on loan-to-value, loan purpose, property units and debt-to-income ratio, per Fannie’s Eligibility Matrix.

Loans where no borrower has a credit score are exempt from the minimum. Those go through Fannie’s nontraditional credit rules instead.

Then there are lender overlays. A lender can require 620, 640 or more for its own reasons, even when DU would approve the file, and nothing in Fannie’s change forced lenders to drop their floors. If one lender turns you down for score alone, ask whether that cutoff is theirs or Fannie’s.

Freddie Mac runs on a separate rulebook

“Conventional” covers loans sold to Fannie Mae and to Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac’s automated system is Loan Product Advisor (LPA), and its credit score rules sit in the Freddie Mac Seller/Servicer Guide, separate from Fannie’s. Freddie’s May 2022 credit score fact sheet says LPA “will allow the assessment of Mortgages when no Borrower has a Credit Score,” and sends sellers to Guide Exhibit 25 for the products that carry a minimum score. We couldn’t open the current Guide to confirm the exact numbers, so we won’t quote any. Your lender knows which agency your loan is headed to. Ask, and ask what score minimum that path carries.

On the scoring models themselves, the two agencies are in step. Per FHFA and both agencies:

Which of your scores the lender actually uses

The classic mortgage FICO scores Fannie lists are Equifax Beacon 5.0, Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model V2 and TransUnion FICO Risk Score Classic 04. Fannie’s Selling Guide (section B3-5.1-02) says to take the middle score when three come back and the lower one when two do. With more than one borrower, the lender selects “the lowest applicable score from the group” as the loan’s representative score, and that representative score drives pricing on every loan. Fannie uses a different number, the average of the borrowers’ median scores, only to test the minimum on certain manually underwritten loans.

That’s why a couple with 760 and 655 middle scores gets priced as a 655 loan. If the stronger borrower can qualify alone, sometimes the math favors leaving the other off. That’s a trade-off with income and debt ratios, and the middle score rule walks through it.

Your score sets the price, not only the yes or no

Every Fannie Mae loan carries loan-level price adjustments, one-time charges based on your representative score and loan-to-value ratio. A slice of Fannie’s purchase-loan grid (matrix dated September 30, 2026, terms over 15 years):

Example: on a $200,000 loan at 95% LTV, a 650 score carries a 1.875% adjustment, or $3,750. A 745 score carries 0.625%, or $1,250. That’s a $2,500 difference from score alone. Lenders usually fold that cost into your interest rate instead of billing it outright, so you see it as a higher rate. The full mechanics, with a $300,000 example across every score band, are in how your score changes your mortgage cost, and the score cost calculator runs your own numbers.

Fannie also says loans delivered with no credit score are charged in the lowest score band, so a thin file doesn’t dodge the pricing. The exception runs the other way: the same matrix waives all of these adjustments for HomeReady loans and for first-time buyers with qualifying income at or below 100% of area median income (120% in high-cost areas). If you might fit, ask the lender to check before you assume the grid applies to you.

If your score is in the low 600s

1. Get your three mortgage scores from a lender’s pull so you know your actual middle score, not an app estimate.
2. Ask the lender three things: which agency the loan goes to, what their minimum is, and whether DU or LPA will make the decision or a person will.
3. Price both programs. At 620 to 659 with a small down payment, an FHA loan is sometimes cheaper once you compare rate, fees and mortgage insurance side by side.
4. Look at where you sit in the grid. A score of 638 and a score of 641 sit in different bands, and a small paydown of card balances before the lender pulls credit can sometimes move you across that line.
5. Don’t open new accounts or close old cards while you’re shopping. Both can move the score that sets your price.