Qualifying for varying loan amounts is not based soley on credit score. Loan qualifications include Credit score, LTV (Loan to value), DTI (debt to income), reserves and employment, just to name a few.
Yes, credit score has almost nothing to do with how much loan you can get. It affects what rate you get.
Typically above 720 gets the best rates and then there are other cut-offs. Usually around 650 and 580. The worse rate puts you in a category with higher rates and worse terms. Many lenders have different cut-offs and they change frequently.
The amount of approved loan has to do with dti, property value, income, cash reserves, etc.
If the loan is being used to acquire investment property, lenders want to see a 720 credit score or higher. Loan amount depends upon other factors. Your credit score determines whether the lender will even talk to you about your loan requirements.
It is possible to get an investment property loan or refinance with a credit score much lower than a 720. However with the risk based pricing fees charged by fannie mae for low credit score loans without MI it can get prohibitively expensive.
As many have stated here before me, there are several factors that go into a loan approval besides just your credit score. You might qualify based on meeting the min. credit score, but because of other factors the loan could still be denied.
My best advice is to detail all the specifics that you can about the situation your inquiring about and then those of us in the business can give you a more accurate and fair assesesment of the minimum credit scores for that specific program, and any potential red flags or hurddles that we see.
The final decision on whether to give you a mortgage is the lender. And lenders consider other factors besides your credit score, such as your employment and salary, your savings and your debt to income ratio.In fact, some lenders specialize in lending to borrowers with low scores. However, the lender will probably ask you to produce additional quantities documents.Some use scores of other organizations such as Scorex, and others use FICO scales that are appropriate to their own method of risk assessment.
There are many things you can do to improve your credit score to qualify for housing loans a lot. If you can only go to improve your credit score the lender, you will have a have a good qualifying loan, or even better opportunity and a great rate. Everyone has three different credit reports. You must obtain a copy of each of these credit report better credit starting down the path.