Can I buy a house with a 700 credit score?

Short answer: yes, and you're not close to the line

A 700 credit score qualifies you for every mainstream mortgage program available in 2026. Conventional loans start at 620. FHA (Federal Housing Administration loan — a government-backed loan built for buyers with lower credit scores or smaller down payments) loans allow 580 with 3.5% down. VA (Department of Veterans Affairs loan — a loan for eligible veterans, active-duty service members, and some surviving spouses, usually with no down payment) and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture loan — a no-down-payment loan for homes in eligible rural and small-town areas, with income limits) have no published minimum at all, though most lenders set their own floor around 620.

At 700 you are 80 points above the conventional minimum. You will not be declined for credit. Underwriting will look at your income, your debt payments, and your down payment — not at whether your score is high enough.

What 700 *does* affect is price. Conventional loan pricing is tiered, and the tiers that matter above 700 are 720 and 740. A 700-score borrower and a 740-score borrower with identical files get the same approval and different monthly payments. That difference — not eligibility — is the only real decision in front of you.

What 700 actually costs you versus 740

Conventional pricing works through loan-level price adjustments: risk-based add-ons set by the loan's credit score and down payment size. They are not applied as fees you see on a statement; they are usually baked into the interest rate.

On a typical 5%-down conventional loan, the difference between a 700 score and a 740 score generally lands somewhere between 0.25% and 0.5% in rate-equivalent cost. On a $340,000 loan that is roughly $55 to $110 a month, or $20,000 to $40,000 over thirty years.

Private mortgage insurance is the second price. PMI (private mortgage insurance — an extra monthly fee on conventional loans when you put down less than 20%; it protects the lender, not you, and can usually be removed later) is priced by score in bands, and 700 sits a band or two below the best pricing. On the same $340,000 loan, PMI at 700 might run about $150 a month where a 760 score runs closer to $85.

Add the two together and the practical gap between 700 and 740 is commonly $100–$180 a month on the same house. Real money — but not a reason to delay a purchase you're otherwise ready for.

Where 700 does not matter at all

Three situations make the score gap nearly irrelevant.

VA loans. There is no monthly mortgage insurance on a VA loan and pricing is far less score-sensitive than conventional. A 700-score veteran and a 780-score veteran get payments within pocket change of each other. If you're eligible for VA, the score conversation mostly stops here.

FHA loans. FHA mortgage insurance is priced by loan-to-value, not by credit score. A 700 score and a 640 score pay the identical mortgage insurance premium. FHA's base rate is also less score-sensitive than conventional pricing.

20% down conventional. With no mortgage insurance in the picture, the only remaining score cost is the rate adjustment — cutting the 700-vs-740 gap roughly in half.

The score gap bites hardest in exactly one scenario: a conventional loan with less than 20% down, where both the rate adjustment and the PMI band are working against you at once.

Should you wait to raise it? The 40-point question

Waiting is worth it only when the raise is fast and the market isn't moving against you. Run the trade honestly.

Waiting is usually worth it when:

• You have a specific, fixable problem — a maxed-out card, a collection you can validate, an error on the report. Paying a revolving balance from 90% of the limit down to under 10% can move a score 20–40 points in one or two reporting cycles, which is 30–60 days, not a year.
• You are within a few points of 720 or 740. Ten points that cross a tier line are worth far more than thirty points that don't.

Waiting is usually not worth it when:

• There is no identifiable fix — the score is 700 because your history is thin or young. Time is the only cure, and time costs you rent and appreciation.
• Home prices in your market are rising faster than your savings. A 3% price increase on a $400,000 home is $12,000 — more than the entire lifetime rate benefit of the score improvement.
• You are using VA or FHA, where the payoff is small to nonexistent.

The honest rule: chase a score improvement that takes 60 days and crosses a pricing tier. Do not delay a purchase for six months chasing 40 points.

How to move from 700 to 740 without gimmicks

Only two of the five score factors respond quickly, so work those.

1. Lower the utilization on revolving accounts. Credit-card balances relative to limits is about 30% of the score and it updates every statement cycle. Getting every card under 10% of its limit — and never letting one card sit near its limit — is the fastest legitimate move available. Pay before the statement closes, not before the due date; the statement balance is what gets reported.

2. Stop opening anything. Each new account adds an inquiry and lowers your average account age. During the six months before you apply, open nothing.

3. Don't close old cards. Closing an old account shrinks your available credit and can shorten your history. Leave them open with a small recurring charge.

4. Dispute genuine errors — carefully. Real reporting errors are worth fixing. Manufactured disputes on accurate accounts get reversed and can freeze a loan mid-process.

What doesn't work: credit-repair companies promising to remove accurate items, becoming an authorized user on a stranger's account, or paying an old collection without first asking how it will be reported. Some paid collections drop the score temporarily by updating the activity date.

What underwriting looks at once your score clears

At 700 the credit question is settled, and attention shifts to the three things that actually decide the file.

Debt-to-income ratio. The share of gross monthly income going to required debt payments including the new housing payment. A strong conventional file can be approved out toward 50%; FHA can go higher with compensating factors. This is the most common reason a 700-score buyer gets a smaller approval than expected.

Income documentation. Two years of history for self-employment, commission, bonus, and overtime income. Salaried income needs 30 days of pay stubs and two years of W-2s.

Assets and reserves. Down payment plus closing costs, sourced and seasoned. Large unexplained deposits get questioned; gift funds need a letter and a paper trail.

Run the numbers in the [affordability calculator](/affordability), then read the [debt-to-income guide](/guides/dti-explained) for the ratio in depth.

Common mistakes at 700

• Assuming 700 is 'good enough' and never shopping lenders. Pricing tiers differ by lender. At 700 the spread between the best and worst quote is often larger than the entire 700-to-740 gap.
• Financing furniture or a car before closing. A new account resets utilization and adds a payment. Buyers have lost approvals a week before closing this way.
• Paying off a collection right before applying without asking the lender first. Sometimes it helps; sometimes it re-ages the item and drops the score at the worst moment.
• Waiting a year to reach 740 in a rising market. The appreciation usually costs more than the rate savings.
• Comparing rates from different days. Mortgage pricing changes daily. Quotes gathered a week apart aren't comparable — collect them within a 48-hour window.