Spring Home Buying 2026: What Lenders Are Actually Looking At This Year

Spring is the busiest time of year for mortgage applications, and 2026 is the first spring where the rules look genuinely different than they did 12 months ago. If you're getting pre-approved this season, the file a lender pulls on you isn't being read the same way it was last April.

Three things changed. Here's what they mean for you.

1. The 620 Floor Is Gone — But Don't Get Comfortable

On November 15, 2025, Fannie Mae eliminated its minimum credit score requirement for conventional loans. For years, 620 was the line. Below it, you weren't getting a conventional mortgage. Above it, you had a shot.

That floor no longer exists on paper. In practice, most approved conventional loans this spring still belong to borrowers above 620. What changed is how lenders weigh borderline files. A score of 600 with strong reserves, a steady two-year work history, low debt-to-income, and a meaningful down payment is now something an underwriter is allowed to approve. Last year that file was a flat decline.

This is not a free pass. It means the rest of your file matters more than it used to. Underwriters are looking harder at compensating factors, and they're using them to justify approvals they couldn't make before.

2. FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 Are Live This Year

The mortgage industry is in the middle of swapping out the credit scoring models it has used for two decades. FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 became available to mortgage lenders in Q1 2026. Major lenders are transitioning through mid-2026, and full implementation across Fannie and Freddie loans is expected by Q4.

The biggest practical difference: both models look at trended data. Instead of taking a snapshot of your credit usage on the day the report is pulled, FICO 10T examines your behavior across the past 24 months. A borrower who has been steadily paying down balances reads as lower risk than a borrower whose balances are flat — even if both have the same utilization today.

Both models also incorporate alternative data. Rent payments, utility payments, and phone bills can now factor into your score if they're being reported. FICO has estimated that 33 million Americans who previously had no scoreable credit file could end up with a score under the new models. If you've been told for years that you were "credit invisible," that may not be true by the end of this year.

3. Mortgage Rates Are Still Doing the Math For You

Mortgage rates landed at 6.46% the week ending April 2, and they're expected to stay in the mid-to-high 6% range through the spring buying season. That number is the headline. The number that matters is what you personally qualify for.

Here's what current pricing actually looks like by tier:

• A FICO of 800 is getting offers around 6.41% APR on a 30-year fixed.
• A FICO of 760 is in the same neighborhood — this is the cutoff where you stop paying a credit penalty.
• A FICO of 700 is currently averaging around 6.63% APR.
• Below 680, the spread widens fast. Each 20-point drop costs you real money.

On a $400,000 loan, the difference between a 760 score and a 680 score is roughly $200 a month. Across a 30-year mortgage that's more than $70,000. This is the cost of buying with a credit file you haven't fixed.

What This Means If You're Buying This Spring

If you're planning to make an offer in the next 90 days, you don't have time to dramatically rebuild your credit. You do have time to fix the things that are dragging your file in ways the bureaus aren't going to catch on their own.

Most files Angelo reviews have at least one issue that doesn't belong: a paid collection still reporting as open, an account that was settled but is showing the original balance, a 30-day late from a billing error that was never disputed, a charge-off that's past the statute and shouldn't be on the report at all. None of these things require seven years of clean payments to fix. They require someone reading the report.

The other thing that matters this spring: with trended data live, the direction your balances are moving in matters as much as where they sit today. If you're carrying credit card debt, paying it down across the next two or three statement cycles before your lender pulls credit will read better in the new models than a one-time payoff right before application.

The File Is the Loan

Spring 2026 is a better year to buy with imperfect credit than spring 2025 was. The rules are friendlier. The models are more forgiving. But none of that helps if your report has errors on it that nobody has cleaned up.

Before you fill out a mortgage application, get your full report read by someone who knows what an underwriter is going to flag. Book a free consultation with Angelo and find out exactly what's on your file, what's costing you, and what to fix before a lender sees it.