First-time home buyer programs with a low credit score
Enter your score, your state and the price: the FHA down payment at that score, and which state programs your score already reaches.
FHA down payment with a 600 score
$9,800
0 of the 2 Texas programs with a published floor accept 600; 2 of 2 programs are open.
| FHA minimum down payment | 3.5% |
| Down payment at 580 or more | $9,800 |
| Texas programs whose floor you reach | 0 / 2 |
| Points to the next state floor | 20 |
| Programs with no published floor (lender decides) | 0 |
FHA: 3.5% down from a 580 score, 10% from 500 to 579 (HUD Handbook 4000.1). State floors as published by each agency; the approved lender can ask a higher score.
| Program | Published floor | For you |
|---|---|---|
| My First Texas Home | 620 | 20 points short |
| My Choice Texas Home | 620 | 20 points short |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · updated: HUD 2026 limits effective May 1, 2026 · Freddie Mac rate of October 15, 2026 · programs read on October 21, 2026
A low credit score narrows the choice but rarely closes the door. FHA, the loan most first-time buyers with damaged credit use, insures borrowers from a score of 500: from 500 to 579 it asks 10% down, from 580 only 3.5%. On a $280,000 home that step is worth $18,200 of cash. State down payment assistance sits higher. Of the 39 state programs we read, 17 publish a credit floor, from 620 to 660, and 22 leave the score to the approved lender. In Texas a 600 score gets FHA at $9,800 down but misses My First Texas Home, which asks 620: 20 more points open the help. The calculator shows that distance for your own score and state, so you know whether to apply now or spend a few months on your credit first.
What each score band opens
| Credit score | FHA minimum down | On a $280,000 home | State programs whose floor it reaches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 to 579 | 10.0% | $28,000 | 0 / 17 |
| 580 to 619 | 3.5% | $9,800 | 0 / 17 |
| 620 to 639 | 3.5% | $9,800 | 5 / 17 |
| 640 to 659 | 3.5% | $9,800 | 15 / 17 |
| 660 and above | 3.5% | $9,800 | 17 / 17 |
The table reads from the bottom up for most buyers. Below 500, no FHA loan and no state help: the work is on the credit file itself. Between 500 and 579, FHA is possible but costs $18,200 more cash on this price, and no state program we read reaches you. From 580 the FHA minimum drops to 3.5%, yet the state floors still sit above. At 620 the first programs open, at 640 most of them, and 660 is the highest published floor.
State by state, the lowest door
| State | Lowest published floor | Programs with a floor | Programs left to the lender |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | lender | 0 | 1 |
| California | lender | 0 | 2 |
| Colorado | 620 | 2 | 0 |
| Florida | lender | 0 | 3 |
| Georgia | 640 | 1 | 0 |
| Illinois | 640 | 4 | 0 |
| Maryland | lender | 0 | 2 |
| Massachusetts | lender | 0 | 3 |
| Michigan | 640 | 1 | 0 |
| New Jersey | lender | 0 | 2 |
| New York | lender | 0 | 1 |
| North Carolina | 640 | 1 | 1 |
| Ohio | 640 | 1 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 660 | 2 | 0 |
| Tennessee | 640 | 2 | 0 |
| Texas | 620 | 2 | 0 |
| Virginia | 620 | 1 | 1 |
| Washington | lender | 0 | 5 |
A state with no published floor is not a state without one. The agency lets its approved lenders apply their own rules, which usually follow the first mortgage and can be stricter than FHA. Ask the lender for its floor on the agency loan, not only on its ordinary FHA product. Where the table shows a floor, it is the agency's published minimum; a lender may still ask more, and the agency's figure is the one it cannot go under.
Your score, another state
FHA down payment with a 630 score
$8,400
| FHA minimum down payment | 3.5% |
| Down payment at 580 or more | $8,400 |
| Ohio programs whose floor you reach | 0 / 1 |
| Points to the next state floor | 10 |
Points or dollars: what to work on first
When the score is ten or twenty points short of a floor, the cheapest move is often on the credit file rather than the savings account: lower card balances before the statement date, correct errors on the report, avoid new accounts in the months before applying. When the score is far from every floor, FHA without assistance may be the realistic plan, and the question becomes the cash. The calculator above gives both sides: the dollars FHA asks at your score and the points that separate you from the next state program.
Texas, worked through
With 600 and a $280,000 home in Texas, the FHA minimum is $9,800. Both TDHCA programs ask 620, so the help, up to 5% of the loan, stays out of reach until the score moves 20 points. The same household at 620 keeps the same FHA minimum and gains a 0% second loan that can pay it. The Texas page gives the county income and price limits that apply once the score is there.