What a 500 credit score gets you
Mortgage
Limited
FHA is the realistic door, and it needs at least 10% down: HUD caps borrowers between 500 and 579 at 90% of the home's value. If the file is underwritten by hand, HUD also limits housing costs to 31% of income and all debts to 43%. Conventional loans have no Fannie Mae minimum through its automated system, but lenders may keep their own, and manual underwriting still asks for 620.
Car loan
Limited
Car financing may be available, subject to lender requirements. If your VantageScore 4.0 is in the 300-500 tier, Experian’s Q2 2026 averages were 16.11% new and 21.62% used. A FICO 500 does not establish that VantageScore; compare actual APR, amount and term.
Credit cards
Limited
A secured card is the realistic option: you put down a deposit and it becomes your limit. Skip any card that charges fees before you have even used it.
Renting
Limited
There is no official minimum score for renting, but many landlords buy screening reports, and at 500 that often means a bigger deposit, a co-signer or a no. Bring proof of income and a reference from your last landlord.
These are broad credit-score categories, not approval odds. Lenders also assess income, debt, credit history and their own requirements.
What 500 costs you in interest
Published rate tables by FICO band start at 620 for mortgages and 640 for car loans, so 500 has no bar on those staircases. For cars, Experian's quarterly averages by VantageScore 4.0 tier are the nearest reference, and 500 lands on the most expensive step.
If your VantageScore 4.0 is 500
Deep subprime · 300–500. A FICO 500 does not establish this VantageScore.
$487.53/mo · $9,252 total interest
$548.07/mo · $12,884 total interest
Illustration: $20,000 financed over 60 months at the quarterly average APR. Experian averages cover different loan terms; these are payment scenarios, not quotes for a 60-month loan. Compare your amount and another VantageScore →
$35,000 new car, 60 months, by VantageScore tier
| Score band | Rate | Monthly | Total interest | vs. best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 781–850 | 4.41% | $651 | $4,064 | – |
| 661–780 | 6.15% | $679 | $5,746 | +$1,681 |
| 601–660 | 9.71% | $739 | $9,320 | +$5,255 |
| 501–600 | 13.52% | $806 | $13,342 | +$9,278 |
| 300–500 | 16.11% | $853 | $16,191 | +$12,126 |
Experian's deep subprime band ends exactly at 500, and its subprime band starts at 501. FICO and VantageScore are different models, so a FICO 500 can come with a VantageScore on either side of that line, and the lender's pricing follows whichever score it pulls. Every step to the right on the chart is a lower average, but the biggest prize in this part of the ladder is not a car rate.
It is the mortgage. At 500, FHA comes with two conditions: at least 10% down, and no margin, since a single point lower closes the program until the score recovers. As an illustration, on a $300,000 home 10% down is $30,000; at 580 the minimum would be $10,500.
What changes in your down payment?
Compare the FHA minimum at 500 with 580 using the same home price.
10% minimum down payment
3.5% minimum down payment
Cash requirement changes. This is not an interest saving.
Putting less down means borrowing more for the same home. Compare the monthly payment and cash reserve as well as the upfront requirement. Closing costs, mortgage insurance and lender requirements are additional. These examples assume the price equals the FHA adjusted value; a lower appraisal can change the cash needed.
Source: HUD FHA credit-score and LTV rules →What would a different score cost?
Same loan. Two scores. See the difference.
VantageScore 4.0 scenarios · Experian Q2 2026. A FICO 500 does not establish a VantageScore of 500.
At 501 compared with 500
| Score | Reference rate | Monthly payment | Total interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 | 16.11% | $487.53 | $9,251.85 |
| 501 | 13.52% | $460.40 | $7,624.18 |
At 501, the estimate is $27.13 less per month and $1,627.67 less interest over the full term.
Car APR averages by VantageScore 4.0 tier, Experian Q2 2026. Both scores use the same quarterly dataset. Terms and amounts are illustrative; the averages are not specific to a 60-month loan. Methodology.
What this estimate includes
Estimates use national average bands, not an offer or approval prediction. Your lender may use a different score. Mortgage payments exclude taxes, insurance, mortgage insurance and fees. Full-term interest assumes no refinancing, early payoff or extra payments.
How to get from 500 to 580
An eighty-point change cannot be predicted from the score alone. The order matters at 500, because the first job is making sure nothing new pushes you under the FHA floor.
- Stop new damage. Put every open account on autopay for at least the minimum. Payment history is 35% of a FICO score, and a fresh late payment at this level can take you below 500.
- Pull all three reports from AnnualCreditReport.com. A score of 500 usually has collections, charge-offs or a run of late payments behind it. Make sure each item is yours and reported correctly, and dispute what is not. Disputes are free and the bureaus must investigate.
- Bring down any card at or over its limit. Amounts owed are 30% of the score, and it is the one factor that can change within a single statement cycle.
- Open a secured card if you have no card in good standing. One card, a small charge each month, paid in full. New clean history is the only thing that slowly outweighs old negative history.
Skip anyone who charges to clean your report. Accurate negatives can stay for up to seven years, and nobody can remove them for a fee. What changes is how much they weigh as they age, with newer on-time history building on top.
What a Poor score means (300 to 579)
About one in seven Americans with a FICO score sits below 580, according to Experian's 2025 data. A score here almost always has a cause you can name: a recent default or charge-off, accounts in collections, a bankruptcy, or cards run up to their limits. Sometimes it is simply a thin file where one bad account carries all the weight.
Lenders do not stop at a Poor score. They change the deal. FHA permits decision scores from 500 with at least 10% down, subject to other requirements; other loan programs and individual lenders have different rules. Car financing may be more expensive. Experian’s deep-subprime and subprime benchmarks use VantageScore 4.0, not a conversion of this FICO range. Secured cards may be an option; approval, deposit and fees depend on the issuer. Each of those products is a way to rebuild, if it is kept clean.
The one line that matters most in this range is 580. It cuts an FHA down payment from 10% to 3.5% and moves you into FICO's Fair range. Everything below it is priced as risk, so the first job is to stop new damage: no new late payments, no new collections. Accurate negative items can stay on a report for up to seven years, but their weight fades well before they disappear.
Questions about a 500 score
Can I get a loan with a 500 credit score?
Some lenders lend at 500, mostly for cars and at deep subprime prices: Experian's Q2 2026 average for that tier was 16.11% on a new car. For a home, FHA accepts 500 with at least 10% down.
Can I buy a house with a 500 credit score?
Possibly, through FHA. 500 is HUD's minimum, and between 500 and 579 you need at least 10% down. At 499 you are not eligible for an FHA loan at all.
Sources (11)
- HUD Handbook 4000.1 (FHA minimum credit scores) and Mortgagee Letter 2026-11, October 8, 2026
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide Announcement SEL-2025-09 (minimum score removed for DU loans), November 5, 2025
- Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-5.1-01, General Requirements for Credit Scores
- Experian: State of the Automotive Finance Market, Q2 2026, August 2026
- myFICO: What is a FICO Score? (score ranges and what goes into them)
- CFPB: Tenant background checks market report, November 2022
- AnnualCreditReport.com (free reports from all three bureaus)
- CFPB: How do I dispute an error on my credit report?
- FTC: Credit scores
- CFPB: What is a credit score?
- Experian: What is the average credit score in the U.S.? (share of consumers in each FICO range), 2025 data, published March 2026
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