Not mortgage-ready yet? Start with your credit.
Every path to a Texas home — rent-to-own, owner financing, or a traditional mortgage — starts with what's on your credit report. See all three bureau reports and scores so you know exactly where you stand before you apply.
Check Your Credit Reports & Scores
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Credit guides for buyers getting mortgage ready
Straight answers on the credit side of buying a home, from the score lenders look for to what to do after a denial.
- What credit score do you need to buy a house?
- Mortgage denied because of credit? What to do next
- How to buy a home with bad credit
- Home loans with a bad credit history
- 5 loan options for buyers with bad credit
- How to lower credit utilization before you apply
- Get mortgage ready in 12 months, month by month
- How to buy a home with little or no money down
- First time buyer down payment assistance in Texas
Where these credit and loan rules come from
The score cutoffs and buyer protections on this site come from the agencies that set and enforce them, not from lender marketing. Check the primary sources yourself:
- FHA sets the 500 and 580 minimum credit score tiers, and the down payment each one requires, in HUD Handbook 4000.1. See the HUD Single Family Housing Policy Handbook.
- Your right to a free report from each of the three bureaus, and the dispute process when something on it is wrong, is set by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The CFPB guide to credit reports and scores explains how to use it.
- When a lender turns you down over credit, federal law requires a written adverse action notice naming the reasons. The CFPB explainer on adverse action notices covers what you are owed.
- Texas down payment and closing cost assistance income limits are published by the administering agency. Start with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs.




