Yes — even at 500 FICO.
Bankruptcy. Collections. Late payments. A bumpy credit history doesn't have to keep you renting. FHA home loans qualify California buyers starting at a 500 FICO with as little as 10% down.
FHA loan terms for credit-challenged buyers.
FHA guidelines for owner-occupied California homes. Final terms depend on your full file — FICO, payment history, income, and property.
Source: FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 and 2026 forward mortgage limits. Not a commitment to lend.
Built for buyers, not just for "perfect files."
FHA loans are insured by the U.S. government specifically so banks can say "yes" to borrowers a conventional lender would turn away.
500 FICO floor
Most conventional loans cut off around 620. FHA opens the door at 500 — the lowest score the program allows.
Low down payment
Just 10% down from 500 FICO, or 3.5% from 580 FICO. Gift funds from family allowed.
Higher DTI OK
Debt-to-income ratios up to 50% are allowed under FHA guidelines — way above the conventional 43% cap.
Post-credit-event paths
Bankruptcy, foreclosure, or short sale in your past? FHA has defined waiting periods — and you may already be eligible.
Four steps from "is it even possible?" to keys.
You don't need a perfect file to start the conversation. Honestly, the messier the file, the more I can help.
Tell me where you're at
Current credit score range, what happened (BK, collections, etc.), and what you want to buy. No judgment — I work with this every day.
Pull a soft credit check
With your permission. I'll review your actual file — not what you think it says — and lay out exactly what FHA will and won't accept.
Plan the path
If you're approvable today, we go. If you need 30, 90, or 180 days to clean up a few items, I give you a specific to-do list.
Close the loan
Through Loan Factory's 240+ lender network, I shop the FHA programs that actually fund low-FICO files — not the ones that say yes then back out.
The situations we see every week.
If any of these sounds like you, you're our client. Tell me the story — I've seen worse, and I've closed worse.
Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 — both have defined FHA paths back to homeownership. Time since discharge matters; we'll calculate it.
FHA has waiting periods after a foreclosure or short sale. If yours was a few years ago, you may already qualify.
Medical, credit-card, or old utility collections rarely kill an FHA file. We work through them — payment plans, payoffs, or letters of explanation.
A few late credit-card or auto payments don't end the conversation. Recent mortgage lates are the toughest — but not always fatal.
Joint accounts, missed payments during a split, an ex who stopped paying the joint mortgage — common, fixable, FHA-friendly.
Thin credit file, low score, but you've been paying rent on time for years? FHA was built for you — and we can document non-traditional credit.
How a good score ends up in the 500s.
It's almost never one bad decision — it's one bad year. A job loss, a divorce, a medical bill, and the dominoes fall faster than most people realize. Here's what that actually looks like in points.
One rough year: 680 → 510
A typical cascade after a job loss — each event compounds the last.
Illustrative timeline. Point changes are directional examples, not a formula — your report is the only real answer.
One event, two starting scores.
The better your credit was, the harder a single event hits — FICO-published illustrative ranges.
Source: FICO-published illustrative damage points (myFICO) for two example starting profiles. Actual impact depends on your full credit file.
The top 10 ways borrowers land in the 500s.
Ranked roughly from "first domino" to "biggest single hit." Point figures marked with ranges are FICO-published illustrative examples; the rest vary too much by file to pin a number on.
Payment history is 35% of your score, so the first late on a card, auto loan, or mortgage is the single biggest first domino — and it hits a clean file hardest.
FHA view: an isolated late almost never ends the conversation.When one missed payment becomes three, each stage re-damages the score and stamps the account as seriously delinquent. This is how a 620 becomes a 540 in one season.
FHA view: recency and the story matter more than the count.Utilization is about 30% of the score. Cards riding near their limits bleed points every single month — even if every payment is on time.
FHA view: this one heals fast — scores can jump within a cycle of paying balances down.Around 180 days unpaid, the lender writes the debt off and reports it as a charge-off — one of the heaviest single marks, visible for seven years.
FHA view: underwriting often doesn't require paying it off — we document it instead.Old utility bills, a forgotten gym contract, an ambulance ride — sold to a collector, reported fresh, and suddenly a decent score is in freefall.
FHA view: medical collections get especially gentle treatment — often set aside entirely.Settling for less than you owe usually means months of strategic non-payment first — the score takes the full delinquency damage on the way to the "deal."
FHA view: possible afterward with seasoning and a letter of explanation.The repo itself, the lates leading up to it, and the leftover deficiency balance often stack into a three-digit combined drop.
FHA view: time since the repo plus a documented story goes a long way.Federal loans in default can report on every individual loan, every month — a score in the 500s is common. Straight talk: federal default also blocks FHA until it's resolved.
FHA view: we map the rehabilitation path first, then the mortgage.Losing a home is the second-biggest single event on a credit report — and it usually arrives stacked on top of the mortgage lates that preceded it.
FHA view: typically a 3-year wait after foreclosure, with exceptions — yours may already be behind you.The biggest one-event drop there is — a 680 can wake up around 540. But it's also a legal reset with the clearest defined road back of anything on this list.
FHA view: Ch 7 ≈ 2 years after discharge; Ch 13 possible after 12 months of on-time plan payments with court approval.And behind almost every item above sits the real cause: a job loss, a divorce, or a medical event. That part gets zero judgment here — it's the exact file we work with every week.
Watch: one bad year, 680 → 510.
The same cascade as the chart above — cards maxed, a first late, a 90-day, collections — in thirty seconds. And the part that matters: at 510, FHA is still on the table.
Illustrative example. Point drops are directional, not a formula.
Open on YouTube Shorts →Recognize your story? A score in the 500s is where my work starts — not where the conversation ends. FHA was written for exactly this file.
Get an honest read →
An LO who answers honestly — even when the answer is hard.
"I'd rather tell you the truth in 10 minutes than waste your 60 days. Sometimes the truth is 'not yet.' But almost always, there's a path."
I'm Kiri Suykry, Loan Officer at Loan Factory — 20+ years in real estate and mortgages, working in English and Cambodian / Khmer. I close FHA deals across California, including the files other LOs gave up on.
Through our 240+ lender network and AI-powered platform, I match credit-challenged borrowers to the FHA lenders that actually fund 500–579 FICO files — not the ones that quote you, run your credit, then ghost.
Backed by Loan Factory's lender network & tech.
The reason rates come in lower here: we shop, we negotiate, and we make less per file than the big retail shops.
I route your file to FHA lenders that actually fund sub-580 FICO — most lenders quietly cap at 620.
I've seen the messy files. The story behind your credit matters less to me than the path forward.
Loan Factory's AI engine matches your scenario to the lender most likely to approve and price it best.
Honest assessment in 15–20 minutes. If I can't help today, I'll tell you what to fix and when to call back.
Tell me the situation.
I'll tell you the truth.
Quick reply — usually within one business day in Pacific Time. Honest, no-pressure conversation. If FHA isn't the right product for you yet, I'll say so.
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Call or text(949) 245-9313
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Emailkiri@loanfactory.com
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CoverageCalifornia property only · Loan Factory