Low-down payment mortgage | Wells Fargo (2024)

FAQs

What is the lowest acceptable down payment on a house? ›

A conventional loan down payment could be as little as 3 percent. FHA loans require as little as 3.5 percent, and VA loans and USDA loans have no down payment requirement at all. Most homeowners don't put 20 percent down.

What credit score does Wells Fargo use? Wells Fargo uses FICO credit scores to decide whether borrowers qualify for mortgages. For most Wells Fargo mortgage programs, you need a FICO score of 620 or higher to qualify.

Putting 50% down on a home could minimize the amount of interest you pay throughout the life of your loan. But a 50% down payment may be a lot of cash to tie up in a home, and you might risk having to borrow more expensively down the line.

A 20 percent down payment may be traditional, but it's not mandatory — in fact, according to 2023 data from the National Association of Realtors, the median down payment for U.S. homebuyers was 14 percent of the purchase price, not 20.

How much down payment for a $300,000 house? The down payment needed for a $300,000 house can range from 3% to 20% of the purchase price, which means you'd need to save between $9,000 and $60,000. If you get a conventional loan, that is. You'll need $10,500, or 3.5% of the home price, with a FHA loan.

How little can a down payment be? “Well, $3,000 is not enough for a down payment on most houses,” says Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub. “The lowest percentage of down payment required is 3.5% for an FHA loan.

Eligible Wells Fargo customers can also easily access their FICO^® Credit Score with Credit Close-up^®. ¹ Don't worry, requesting your score or reports in these ways won't negatively affect your credit score.

Wells Fargo will pull your credit report from any of the three major reporting bureaus – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. The specific bureau they'll use for your credit application is a trade secret for the bank that's not publicly disclosed.

Wells Fargo, like most mortgage lenders, uses Equifax Beacon 5.0, Experian/Fair Isaac Risk Model v2, and TransUnion FICO Risk Score 04. You can buy these scores from myFico, or have a lender pull your credit (which is free, but would impact your credit score).

There is no age limit on home loans and age-based discrimination is illegal. But when you apply for a mortgage, your age will be considered among many key criteria; you need to prove you can pay a mortgage now and into the future.

Is 50 too late to buy a house? ›

If you're in your 50s, it's not too late to buy a new home, but it's key to ask the right questions and make the wisest decisions possible. Above all, avoid getting stuck making mortgage payments years into your retirement.

This ratio says that your monthly mortgage costs (which includes property taxes and homeowners insurance) should be no more than 36% of your gross monthly income, and your total monthly debt (including your anticipated monthly mortgage payment and other debts such as car or student loan payments) should be no more than ...

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan: With an FHA loan, you'll need at least a 3.5% down payment. To qualify for the minimum 3.5% FHA down payment, you need a credit score of 580 or higher. If your credit score is between 500 and 579, you'll put down at least 10%.

If you have a conventional loan, $800 in monthly debt obligations and a $10,000 down payment, you can afford a home that's around $250,000 in today's interest rate environment.

Down Payment: Unless you are able to obtain a 0% down payment loan, you'll need some money to afford the down payment on a 100K mortgage loan. The average down payment on a home is 13%, as per the National Association of Realtors®. This works out to $13,000 on a $100,000 home.

But if you want to get into a house now and start building equity, it may be better to buy with a smaller down payment—say five to 10 percent down. You might also want to make a small down payment to avoid draining your savings.

In other words, the purchase price of a house should equal the total amount of the mortgage loan and the down payment. Often, a down payment for a home is expressed as a percentage of the purchase price. As an example, for a $250,000 home, a down payment of 3.5% is $8,750, while 20% is $50,000.