How to Improve Your Credit Before Buying a Home

People often tell me they’re “working on their credit,” as if it were a project with no finish line. It doesn’t have to be. Most of what moves a score is a short list of things, and several of them show up within a month or two.

Here’s where I’d start if you’re planning to buy in the next year, and what I’d leave alone.

Start with the score lenders actually see

The number in your banking app is probably not the one a mortgage lender pulls. Most apps show a VantageScore or a newer FICO version, while mortgage lending has long relied on older FICO models built specifically for it. The two can easily sit 20 to 40 points apart, in either direction.

That’s starting to change. As of September 2026, lenders selling loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can use VantageScore 4.0. It looks at roughly two years of how your balances have moved, instead of a single snapshot, and can count rent and utility payments when they appear on your file. If your credit has been steadily improving, that works in your favor, and paying balances down month after month counts for more than it used to.

The only way to see your mortgage score is through a lender’s credit pull. When I run one, I’ll tell you the number and exactly what’s driving it.

Pull your reports and read every line

You can get free copies of your reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion at annualcreditreport.com. Pull all three. They often don’t match, and a lender typically uses the middle of your three scores.

Look for:

• Accounts you don’t recognize
• Late payments you know were on time
• Balances that were paid off but still show as owed
• The same debt listed twice, often once by the original creditor and once by a collector

Dispute errors directly with the bureau reporting them, and keep copies of what you send. Bureaus generally have 30 days to investigate. Start this early, because an open dispute can complicate underwriting if it’s still unresolved when you apply.

Pay down card balances, and mind the timing

After payment history, how much of your available credit you’re using is the biggest lever you control, and it’s the fastest one to move. Scoring models look at the balance reported on your statement, not what you owe after you pay it off.

So a card with a $5,000 limit that reports a $3,500 balance reads as 70% used, even if you pay it in full every month. Pay it down to $500 before the statement closes and the report shows 10%. Under 30% helps; under 10% tends to help more.

If you can’t pay everything down, spread it out. Several cards at moderate balances usually score better than one card near its limit. And because the newer scoring model watches the trend, a steady monthly paydown is worth more than one big payment the week before you apply.

Protect your payment history

A single payment that’s 30 or more days late can drop a strong score sharply, though its weight fades with time. If you’ve had a recent late, the most useful thing you can do now is make every payment on time from here forward.

Set every account to autopay the minimum, then pay more by hand when you can, so a hectic month never turns into a late mark.

If an account has gone to collections, talk to me before you rush to pay it. Depending on the program and the account’s age, paying it may not raise your score, and underwriting sometimes needs a specific document more than a zero balance.

What not to do

These are the moves that most often hurt people who were trying to help themselves:

• Closing old cards. It shrinks your available credit and can shorten your credit history. Leave a paid-off card open and use it for a small recurring bill.
• Opening new credit. A new store card, car loan, or financed furniture adds a hard inquiry and a new payment. Wait until after closing.
• Co-signing for someone. Their loan becomes your debt on paper, and their late payments land on your report.

Shopping for a mortgage itself is the exception. Multiple mortgage inquiries within a short window are generally counted as one, so comparing lenders won’t cost you much.

How long it really takes

It depends on what’s holding the score down:

• High card balances: often visible within one to two billing cycles
• Report errors: usually 30 to 45 days once disputed
• Recent late payments or collections: months to a couple of years to soften
• Thin credit, meaning few accounts or a short history: six months to a year of on-time activity to build

If you’ve just paid something down and you’re close to a pricing threshold, a lender can sometimes order a rapid rescore, which updates your report in days rather than waiting for the next cycle. Only a lender can request one, and it only reflects changes you can already document.

Your score is one piece of the file

Minimums vary by program. FHA loans can allow scores down to 580 with 3.5% down, and Fannie Mae no longer applies a flat 620 minimum on loans run through its automated underwriting system, though many lenders still set their own floors. Your income, your debt load, and what you have saved all count alongside the score.

So I won’t tell you to wait a year for a perfect number. Sometimes a 660 with solid savings and a manageable payment is ready now. Sometimes the right move is 90 days of paying down cards first, because it could change your rate or your mortgage insurance enough to matter for as long as you own the home. If you want the fuller picture of how scores shape pricing, I wrote about how credit scores impact your mortgage rate.

The bottom line

Pull all three reports, fix what’s wrong, bring your card balances down before the statements close, and pay every bill on time. Don’t open or close anything until you have keys in hand. For most people that’s two to six months of steady work, not years.

Ready to learn more?

If you’d like to know which score a lender would see today and which one or two changes would move it most, I’d be honored to look at it with you and give you a plan with a date on it.