Which Credit Scores Fannie Mae Accepts
Fannie Mae only accepts specific versions of the classic FICO credit score. Your lender cannot use VantageScore or other scoring models. The required versions are Equifax Beacon 5.0, Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model V2, and TransUnion FICO Risk Score Classic 04.
Your lender must request all three scores when they pull your credit report. This happens automatically when they order what's called a "three in-file merged credit report." You don't need to do anything special to ensure they get the right scores.
Say you're applying for a mortgage and your lender pulls your credit. They'll get scores from all three bureaus if you have credit history with each one. If one bureau shows a 720, another shows 715, and the third shows 710, your lender will use the middle score of 715 for loan qualification purposes.
Minimum Credit Score Requirements
The minimum credit score requirement depends on how your loan gets underwritten. Manually underwritten loans have strict minimums, while DU loans have more flexibility.
For manually underwritten loans, you need at least a 620 credit score for fixed-rate mortgages and 640 for adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). These are hard floors. If your representative credit score falls below these thresholds, your loan won't qualify for manual underwriting.
Desktop Underwriter loans work differently. DU doesn't require a minimum credit score because it analyzes your entire credit profile, not just the score. DU might approve a borrower with a 580 credit score if other factors like income, assets, and payment history are strong.
Consider two borrowers with 610 credit scores. The first applies for a manually underwritten fixed-rate loan and gets denied because they're below the 620 minimum. The second runs their loan through DU and gets approved because DU sees stable employment, low debt ratios, and significant assets.
What Documents Your Lender Needs
Your lender must obtain and keep the actual credit report in your loan file. This includes the report showing your credit scores or documentation that scores couldn't be generated due to insufficient credit history.
The credit report itself serves as the primary documentation. Your lender doesn't need additional verification of your credit scores beyond what appears on the merged credit report from the three bureaus.
If you have what's called a "frozen" credit file at one bureau, your lender can still proceed as long as they get credit data from the other two bureaus. However, if two or more bureaus have frozen files, your loan becomes ineligible for Fannie Mae purchase.
How Lenders Determine Your Representative Credit Score
When you have credit scores from multiple bureaus, your lender follows specific rules to determine which score applies to your loan. This becomes your "representative credit score" for qualification and pricing purposes.
The process varies based on how many scores are available. With three scores, they use the middle score. With two scores, they use the lower score. With only one score, that becomes your representative score. For detailed rules on this calculation, see B3-5.1-02: Determining the Credit Score for a Mortgage Loan.
If you're buying a home with a co-borrower, the lender uses the lowest representative credit score between both of you. So if your representative score is 740 and your spouse's is 680, the loan gets priced and qualified based on the 680 score.
Why Fannie Mae Has These Requirements
Fannie Mae requires specific FICO versions because they provide consistent, reliable risk assessment across all lenders. These versions have been tested and validated for mortgage lending over many years.
The minimum credit score requirements for manual underwriting reflect statistical analysis of loan performance. Borrowers with scores below 620 (or 640 for ARMs) historically show higher default rates when underwritten manually.
DU doesn't need minimum credit scores because it performs sophisticated analysis of your entire credit profile. It can identify borrowers who may have lower scores but present acceptable risk based on other compensating factors.
Common Issues That Can Trip You Up
Credit freezes cause the most problems. If you've frozen your credit for identity protection, you must unfreeze it at all three bureaus before your lender pulls your report. Freezing at two or more bureaus makes your loan ineligible.
Some borrowers assume they can use credit scores from free monitoring services or credit card statements. These often use different scoring models that Fannie Mae doesn't accept. Only the scores on your lender's tri-merge credit report count.
Timing matters for credit pulls. Your lender needs current scores, typically pulled within 120 days of closing. If you're shopping for rates with multiple lenders, try to have all credit pulls done within a 14-day window to minimize the impact on your credit score.
Authorized user accounts can create confusion. If you're an authorized user on someone else's credit card, that account appears on your credit report and affects your score. However, the primary account holder's payment history becomes part of your credit profile, which could help or hurt depending on their payment patterns.
How Credit Scores Affect Your Loan Pricing
Your representative credit score directly impacts your loan's cost through loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs). Lower credit scores result in higher fees, while higher scores can reduce costs.
These adjustments get built into your interest rate or paid as upfront fees. A borrower with a 620 credit score pays significantly more than someone with a 740 score, even if all other loan factors are identical.
The LLPA matrix changes periodically, so the exact pricing impact varies over time. Your lender can show you current pricing based on your specific credit score and loan characteristics.
Special Situations and Exceptions
Certain loan types don't follow the standard minimum credit score rules. HomeReady mortgages allow manual underwriting with lower credit scores under specific circumstances. High LTV refinance loans also have different requirements.
Borrowers without traditional credit scores fall under nontraditional credit guidelines covered in [[B3-5.4]]. These loans require alternative documentation of creditworthiness, such as utility payment history or rent receipts.
Some transactions involving borrowers without any credit scores can still qualify. The lender must document alternative credit sources and follow specific underwriting requirements for these situations.
References
For the official guidelines, see B3-5.1-01: General Requirements for Credit Scores in the Fannie Mae Selling Guide.
Mortgage guidelines change. Stay current.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac update their rules several times a year. Get notified when changes affect your mortgage eligibility, required documents, or loan terms.
No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
Original Fannie Mae Guideline Text
B3-5.1-01, General Requirements for Credit Scores (11/05/2025)
Minimum Credit Score Requirements
Exceptions to the Minimum Credit Score Requirement
Delivery of Credit Scores
Loan-Level Price Adjustments Based on Credit Score
Credit Score Versions
Credit scores are required for most loans purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae. The classic FICO credit score is produced from software developed by Fair Isaac Corporation and is available from the three major credit repositories. Fannie Mae requires the following versions of the classic FICO score for both DU and manually underwritten mortgage loans:
Equifax Beacon® 5.0;
Experian®/Fair Isaac Risk Model V2SM; and
TransUnion FICO® Risk Score, Classic 04.
The lender must request these FICO credit scores for each borrower from each of the three major credit repositories when they order the three in-file merged credit report. If the borrower’s credit file includes complete and accurate information to ensure the validity of the credit score, the lender does not need to further evaluate the borrower’s creditworthiness.
Note: The credit report will indicate if a credit score could not be produced due to insufficient credit. The credit report must be maintained in the loan file, whether the report includes traditional credit and a credit score or indicates that a credit score could not be produced due to insufficient or frozen credit.
Minimum Credit Score Requirements
The following table describes the minimum credit score requirements and how to determine the loan-level credit score that applies to loan eligibility.
The requirements are published in the
The minimum credit score that applies for loan eligibility is:
620 — fixed-rate loans
640 — ARMs
DU loan casefiles
A minimum credit score is not required for DU loan casefiles. DU will assess a borrower's creditworthiness in accordance with the risk factors outlined in
See B3-5.1-02, Determining the Credit Score for a Mortgage Loan for additional information.
Exceptions to the Minimum Credit Score Requirement
Certain transactions are not subject to the minimum credit score requirement, including:
loans where no borrower has a credit score (see Section B3–5.4, Nontraditional Credit History);
manually underwritten HomeReady mortgage loans that include a borrower with a low credit score (see B5-6-02, HomeReady Mortgage Underwriting Methods and Requirements); and
high LTV refinance loans, except for those loans underwritten using the Alternative Qualification Path.
DU Credit Score Requirements
Credit scores are not an integral part of DU's risk assessment because DU performs its own analysis of the credit report data. However, lenders must request credit scores for each borrower from each of the three credit repositories when they order the three in-file merged credit report, described in B3-5.2-01, Requirements for Credit Reports. If one or two of the credit repositories do not contain any credit information for the borrowers who have traditional credit, the credit report is still acceptable as long as
credit data is available from one repository, and
the lender requested a three in-file merged report.
If the transaction does not meet the above requirements, refer to Section B3–5.4, Nontraditional Credit History, for underwriting and eligibility requirements.
Frozen Credit Requirements
If the borrower’s credit information is frozen at one of the credit repositories for borrowers who have traditional credit, the credit report is still acceptable as long as
credit data is available from two repositories, and
the lender requested a three in-file merged report.
Loans for borrowers with credit data frozen at two or more of the credit repositories will not be eligible whether underwritten manually or in DU.
Delivery of Credit Scores
Loan Delivery collects credit score data for each borrower and also at the loan level. Lenders are required to deliver the representative credit score for all loans. For additional information, see the Loan Delivery Job Aid: Credit Scores.
Loan-Level Price Adjustments Based on Credit Score
Loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) are assessed based on the representative credit score for the loan, in addition to other eligibility and loan features. See the Loan-Level Price Adjustment (LLPA) Matrix for additional information about LLPAs, including information about how LLPAs are assessed for loans that include borrowers without a credit score.
