A 600 credit score is the most misread number in mortgage lending. It is not a catastrophe, and you are not confined to hard-money loans at 14%. Nor is it enough to walk into a bank branch and get the same deal your neighbor with a 780 gets. What it is, practically, is a middle lane: real options, narrower than a prime borrower’s and wider than most people assume.
Here is what the rules actually say, which lenders write these loans every week, and what the score costs you in dollars.
Where a 600 actually lands you
Lenders sort files into buckets, and 600 sits right on the seam between them.
- FHA: the official floor is 580 for the 3.5% down program and 500 for the 10% down version. At 600 you clear the 3.5% threshold with 20 points to spare.
- Conventional: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac generally want 620, and most lenders layer their own 640 or 660 floor on top. At 600, this lane is usually closed.
- VA: no statutory minimum. The lender sets it, and plenty go to 600 or slightly below.
- USDA: typically 640, though some lenders will underwrite by hand below that.
The cost of the score shows up in pricing, not just approval. On a $280,000 loan, a 600 score often prices 1.0 to 1.5 percentage points above a 760. That is roughly $180 to $270 extra every month for thirty years, before you count FHA’s 1.75% upfront mortgage insurance premium (about $4,900 rolled into the balance) and the 0.55% annual MIP of roughly $128 a month.
Lenders that write 600-score mortgages every week
FHA-focused lenders
FHA is the workhorse at this score, and the lenders who do the most of it are not the ones with the biggest billboards. Mortgage brokers are often the better first call, because they can shop one file across twenty or thirty wholesale lenders and find the one whose overlays happen to fit. Among direct lenders, the government-loan specialists such as Freedom, Carrington, LoanDepot and Rocket all close FHA files at 600 daily. If you want the mechanics of the program first, this breakdown of lenders who actually approve the 3.5% down is worth ten minutes of your evening.
VA and USDA lenders
Veterans and active-duty borrowers should start with VA regardless of score: no monthly mortgage insurance, and a funding fee that can be financed into the loan. Rural buyers get a similar gift from USDA’s zero-down program, where household income limits usually matter more than the credit score. A handful of lenders close these files at 600 or just under, and this guide to who actually closes zero-down rural mortgages is a decent starting list.
Portfolio and non-QM lenders
Portfolio lenders keep loans on their own books, so they answer to a credit committee rather than to Fannie Mae. That means self-employed borrowers with heavy write-offs, recent gig income, or a 600 score six months after a short sale can get a yes when the agencies say no. Pricing runs 0.75% to 2% above agency rates and fees are heavier. Knowing where expensive ends and predatory begins matters more here than anywhere else, which is why the warning signs in this piece on bad credit mortgage lenders and how to spot a trap are worth reading before you sign anything.
Who will probably turn you down
Not because of policy, but because of overlays. Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and most large regional banks set credit floors well above the agency minimums, often 620 to 660 for conventional and around 600 for FHA. Credit unions are all over the map: some portfolio-lend to members at 580, others copy the same overlays as the big banks.
Calling three big banks at 600 is a two-week exercise in hearing the word no. Spend that time with a broker and two direct FHA lenders instead.
What it costs, line by line
Budget for these on top of the headline rate.
- Pricing hits. Expect roughly 1.0 to 1.5 percentage points added to your rate versus a 760 borrower, or the equivalent paid as discount points at closing.
- Upfront MIP. 1.75% of the base loan amount on FHA, usually financed rather than paid in cash.
- Annual MIP. 0.55% per year for most FHA loans with less than 10% down.
- Down payment. 3.5% on FHA ($9,800 on a $280,000 purchase), and it can be a documented gift from family.
- Reserves. Several FHA lenders want one to two months of payments in the bank at this score.
Put it together and a $280,000 FHA purchase at 600 lands somewhere near $2,050 a month with taxes and insurance. Not cheap. Also not the disaster the number suggests.
Five moves that beat 600 before you apply
The gap between 600 and 640 is worth real money, often a quarter point off the rate for the life of the loan. These levers work fastest.
- Drop utilization below 10%. Paying a $4,000 balance down to $400 can move a score 40 to 60 points inside a single billing cycle.
- Dispute the errors you can prove. A collection reported twice, or a late payment that was actually on time, is worth 20 to 40 points once corrected.
- Ask for a rapid rescore. Lenders can push corrected data to the bureaus in three to five business days for about $30 per item, per bureau.
- Add a co-borrower. FHA allows non-occupant co-borrowers, so a parent’s 780 can carry a thin file.
- Ask about manual underwriting. FHA lets an automated denial go to a human underwriter. Six months of reserves, a 38% debt-to-income ratio and four years at the same employer are the compensating factors they look for.
Questions worth asking on the first phone call
Skip the rate quote for sixty seconds and ask these instead. The answers separate lenders who close from lenders who string you along.
- What is your minimum score for FHA, and do you have overlays above 580?
- Do you do manual underwriting, or does every file run through an automated system?
- What price adjustment applies to my score band and down payment?
- Can you order a rapid rescore if I pay down a balance before closing?
- Who funds the loan, and how many days do you need after the appraisal comes in?
If your score is below 600
At 580 the same FHA program stays open with 3.5% down, though the lender list narrows and pricing steepens. This look at mortgage lenders for a 580 credit score names the ones that still say yes. At 520 the math changes entirely: FHA requires 10% down, conventional and VA are effectively off the table, and your realistic path runs through manual underwriting and down payment assistance, which is what the options at a 520 credit score come down to.
Shop the rate, not the first yes
FHA rates vary between lenders by as much as 0.75% for the same borrower on the same afternoon, because each one sets its own margin and overlays. Three quotes on a $280,000 loan can differ by $130 a month, which is $46,800 over the life of a thirty-year note.
Collect every quote inside a 14-day window. FICO treats mortgage inquiries in that span as a single event, so the shopping does no damage to your score. Then take the lowest offer back to the lender who treated you best on the phone and ask them to match it. At 600, being a slightly persistent, well-prepared borrower is worth more than any credit repair trick you will read about this year.