What credit score do you need for down payment assistance?
1091 of the 2,700-plus programs in the catalog publish a minimum credit score, and the lowest published floor in the catalog is 550.
Where a program publishes no floor of its own, the underlying first mortgage generally sets one. A published minimum is a threshold the program will consider, not a guarantee of approval — the first-mortgage lender underwrites separately. Programs that publish no score requirement are not necessarily more lenient; many simply defer to the first mortgage.
State by state
51 states and territories have at least one. Each links to that state's full directory.
| State | Programs publishing a minimum score |
|---|---|
| California | 246 |
| Florida | 128 |
| Texas | 82 |
| Colorado | 54 |
| Maryland | 38 |
| Virginia | 38 |
| Georgia | 30 |
| Washington | 29 |
| Oklahoma | 28 |
| North Carolina | 27 |
| Minnesota | 24 |
| Pennsylvania | 23 |
| Tennessee | 23 |
| Ohio | 20 |
| Louisiana | 19 |
| South Carolina | 18 |
| Oregon | 15 |
| Montana | 14 |
| Nevada | 14 |
| Utah | 14 |
| New Jersey | 13 |
| Illinois | 12 |
| Massachusetts | 11 |
| Kentucky | 10 |
| Maine | 9 |
| Michigan | 9 |
| Missouri | 9 |
| South Dakota | 9 |
| West Virginia | 9 |
| Delaware | 8 |
| New Hampshire | 8 |
| Arizona | 7 |
| Iowa | 7 |
| Indiana | 7 |
| Nebraska | 7 |
| New Mexico | 7 |
| Wisconsin | 7 |
| Wyoming | 7 |
| Alabama | 6 |
| Connecticut | 6 |
| Vermont | 6 |
| Mississippi | 5 |
| New York | 5 |
| District of Columbia | 4 |
| Arkansas | 3 |
| Idaho | 3 |
| Kansas | 3 |
| North Dakota | 3 |
| Rhode Island | 3 |
| Alaska | 2 |
| Hawaii | 2 |
Questions, answered
What credit score do you need for down payment assistance?
1091 of the 2,700-plus programs in the catalog publish a minimum credit score, and the lowest published floor in the catalog is 550. Where a program publishes no floor of its own, the underlying first mortgage generally sets one. A published minimum is a threshold the program will consider, not a guarantee of approval — the first-mortgage lender underwrites separately. Programs that publish no score requirement are not necessarily more lenient; many simply defer to the first mortgage.
Where do these numbers come from?
Hey Prescott maintains a catalog of active down payment assistance programs across all 50 states and DC, each verified against the administering agency's own published material and carrying the date it was last checked. The counts on this page are drawn from that catalog and refresh as it does.
Is Hey Prescott a lender?
No. Hey Prescott is an educational directory of down payment assistance programs. We list programs and link to official sources; we do not make loans or give individualized lending advice.
More questions
- Do you have to pay back down payment assistance?
- Do you have to be a first-time buyer to get down payment assistance?
- Can you combine down payment assistance programs?
- Do you need a homebuyer education class for down payment assistance?
- Can you use down payment assistance on a manufactured home?
- Can you use down payment assistance on new construction?
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