Buying a house and your ability to borrow a mortgage loan depends on three factors – your credit score, your debt-to-income ratio, and the stability of your work history. When any one of those factors is less than stellar, you can be disqualified or end up paying thousands of extra dollars in higher interest rates.

Your credit score plays the single biggest role in determining how good a deal you’ll get when buying a house. Scores range from excellent to bad:

• Excellent: 781 – 850
• Good: 661 – 780
• Fair: 601 – 660
• Poor: 501 – 600
• Bad: anything that fall below 500

You’ll get the best terms if you have excellent credit. Anything beneath 620 – 660 makes it difficult to qualify for a conventional mortgage loan of any kind.

Infographic by Credit Repair