What credit score do you actually need to buy in Florida?

The minimums, by loan type

FHA goes down to 580 with 3.5% down. Conventional generally starts at 620. VA has no published minimum, though most lenders set one around 620.

What the score really changes is the price

Approval is a threshold. Pricing is a staircase, and every step costs real money every month.

On a conventional loan, the rate and the mortgage insurance are both priced off score bands — 620-639, 640-659, and so on up to 780 and above. The gap between the bottom band and the top is commonly a full percentage point or more once mortgage insurance is included.

On a $320,000 loan — a $400,000 house with 20% down — one percentage point is roughly $210 a month, and about $75,000 over thirty years. That is the cost of the score, and it is why the six months before you buy are worth spending on it.

Which score they are actually looking at

Not the one in your banking app. Mortgage lenders pull all three bureaus and use the middle score, on older FICO models than the consumer versions.

Two people on one application means six scores: the middle of each borrower’s three, and then the lower of those two. If your partner’s file is weaker, that is the number the loan is priced on — which sometimes makes a single-borrower application the better structure, even on a joint purchase.

What moves it in ninety days

Three things, in this order, and none of them is a credit repair service.

1. Get utilisation under 30%, ideally under 10%. This is the fastest lever there is and it can move a score within one billing cycle. Pay balances down before the statement date, not the due date — the statement balance is what gets reported.
2. Do not close old accounts. Length of history and available credit both matter. The card you have not used since 2014 is helping you.
3. Dispute genuine errors, which are common. You are entitled to your reports from all three bureaus free of charge.

What does not work in ninety days: opening new accounts to “build” credit, paying off an old collection without asking a lender first, or anything that promises to remove accurate information.