Your conventional loan, all on one page

Fannie Mae removed the fixed minimum score for its automated approvals in November 2025. Lenders can set their own minimums, and pricing improves as scores rise.

With good credit and some money down, a conventional loan often costs less over time than FHA, because its mortgage insurance ends. Your Mortgage Plan shows both, side by side.

Conventional loans approved through Fannie Mae's automated system go up to 50% of income for all debts; manually underwritten loans 36%, or up to 45% with strong credit and reserves.

Conventional is the agency loan for homes you won't live in full time.

A two- to four-unit home you live in can be bought with 5% down, and the rent from the other units can help you qualify.

3% down through HomeReady or Home Possible for incomes up to 80% of the area median, first-time buyer or not, or with at least one first-time buyer on the loan; 5% otherwise.

A first-time buyer is someone who has not owned a home in the past 3 years.

Fannie Mae's HomeReady and Freddie Mac's Home Possible allow 3% down, first-time buyer or not, and carry reduced mortgage insurance coverage with less than 10% down. HomeReady requires a homebuyer course when everyone buying is a first-time buyer; Fannie Mae's HomeView is free and online.

Check an address's income limit

Gifts from family are allowed with a letter and a paper trail. Down payment assistance is usually a loan secured by a second lien and only sometimes a grant; we compare your options with and without it before you apply.

Down payment assistance: what it really costs

The limits are set by the combined loan-to-value, so a second loan counts too.

Under the Homeowners Protection Act, you can ask to cancel private mortgage insurance once the balance reaches 80% of the home's original value, with a good payment history. It ends automatically when the balance is scheduled to reach 78% under the original schedule. Extra payments can bring the 80% request date sooner, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also let you ask to cancel based on a higher current value after a set time, with a new valuation of the home.

Find your dates

Mortgage insurance is priced on the credit score and the down payment, so a higher score or a larger down payment lowers it. HomeReady and Home Possible carry reduced coverage. It is usually paid monthly with the payment.

La Plata, Montezuma, Archuleta and Dolores counties use the $832,750 baseline. Some counties are higher: San Miguel $994,750, the Denver metro $862,500.

Where FHFA sets a county limit above the baseline, a loan between the two is a high-balance conforming loan, with the same programs and sometimes slightly different pricing. Above the county limit, the loan is a jumbo.

Jumbo loans

Nearly any improvement, from kitchens and roofs to accessory units where zoning allows, on a home you live in, a second home or a rental.

Freddie Mac's renovation loan, with CHOICEReno eXPress for smaller projects up to 10% of value (15% in high-needs areas).

A limited cash-out refinance pays off the current loan and closing costs, with cash back of no more than the lesser of 1% of the loan or $2,000.

A new 30-year term does not mean 30 more years of payments. It sets the longest the loan can run, not how long you have to take. Keep paying what you pay today, and the difference goes to principal, so at the lower rate the new loan can be paid off on or before the date your current loan would end.

A cash-out refinance replaces your loan with a larger one and pays you the difference, with a full appraisal, income and credit review. You must have been on title at least 6 months.