What credit score do I need to buy a house in the UK?

There's no official minimum credit score for a UK mortgage, and no lender publishes one, because they don't use the score shown on a free banking app. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion each run their own scale (0-1250, 0-1000 and, from September 2026, 0-999), and a lender pulls the underlying credit file, not the headline number, and runs it through its own internal scorecard. As a rough guide, a score in the top third of any of the three scales tends to open up most mainstream deals, but income, deposit size and existing debts matter just as much. If you're worried about qualifying, get your actual credit report from all three agencies, fix any errors and speak to a whole-of-market broker, since that tells you far more than any single number.

Will my mortgage application be rejected if I have a low credit score?

A low score on a free credit app doesn't automatically mean rejection, because mainstream lenders never see that score. What actually causes rejections is what sits underneath it: recent missed payments, an unresolved default or CCJ, a high level of existing debt relative to income, or a thin credit history with almost nothing on file. Genuinely poor credit history usually means a higher rate and a bigger deposit through a specialist lender rather than an outright no. The maths points toward getting your credit report checked before you apply, not after a decline, so any fixable errors or manageable debts are dealt with while you still have options.

Does checking my credit score lower it before I apply for a mortgage?

No. Checking your own credit report or score, whether through a free app or directly with Experian, Equifax or TransUnion, is a soft search and has no effect on your score or your mortgage chances. What can dent your file, usually only briefly, is a hard search left by actually applying for credit, such as a credit card, loan or mortgage decision-in-principle with multiple lenders in a short window. If you're planning to apply for a mortgage in the next few months, checking your own report as often as you like is free and sensible, but avoid opening new credit accounts or making several separate mortgage applications close together.

How can I improve my mortgage chances if I have bad credit?

Start by pulling your full credit report from all three agencies, since roughly 9 million UK adults have mistakes on their credit file and lenders may only see one or two of the three reports depending which they use (Royal London, January 2023). Correct any factual errors, register on the electoral roll if you have not already, and pay down existing debt to improve your outgoings-to-income ratio, which lenders weigh heavily. Avoid applying for new credit or several mortgages at once in the months before you apply. Most people in this position end up better served by a whole-of-market broker who knows which specialist lender's scorecard actually fits their specific credit history, rather than guessing based on an app's percentage-chance estimate.

You don't need a 999 credit score for a mortgage

You checked the free credit app on your phone the night before your mortgage appointment, and the number staring back sat somewhere in the middle: not terrible, not great, definitely not the "800" or "750" you have seen quoted as the magic pass mark on half a dozen money blogs. So you spent two hours googling "credit score needed for mortgage UK" and got a different answer every time: 620, 700, 750, 800, none of which line up with each other, let alone with the number on your own screen.

Here is the actual answer: there's no minimum credit score for a UK mortgage. No lender publishes one, because no mainstream lender uses the score you're looking at. And this year, to make the number even less meaningful, two of the three UK credit reference agencies changed the scale it's measured on.

The score you're chasing doesn't exist

Experian's UK credit score used to run from 0 to 999. During its 2025-26 rollout it moved to a 0 to 1,250 scale, with the new bands running roughly Fair 641-860, Good 861-1,000, Very Good 1,001-1,120 and Excellent above 1,120 (Experian UK, 2026). Experian says close to half of people saw their headline number change once the new scale landed, with 44% seeing a lower score and 42% seeing a higher one, purely because of the rescale rather than anything changing on their actual credit file.

TransUnion is doing the same thing in the opposite direction. From September 2026 it's phasing in a new 0 to 999 score to replace its old 0 to 710 scale, with the rollout running through to June 2027 (TransUnion UK, August 2026). Under the old scale, Excellent started at 628 out of 710. Under the new one, Excellent starts at 786 out of 999. Equifax, meanwhile, still runs its own 0 to 1,000 scale, with a Good score starting at roughly 420. Three agencies, three different scales, two of which have moved within the past twelve months.

So if you're refreshing a free credit app the night before you apply, you're anxiously watching a number that describes nothing a mortgage lender will actually see, and that number has already changed shape twice this year.

What your lender actually looks at

Mortgage lenders don't receive your Experian, Equifax or TransUnion score at all. They pull the underlying data on your credit file, the same information you can see on your own report, and run it through their own internal scorecard, which weighs missed payments, defaults, existing debt and account history however that specific lender chooses to. Two lenders can look at an identical credit file and reach opposite decisions, which is exactly why a broker who knows the individual lenders' scorecards is worth more than any comparison-site percentage.

Alongside your credit file, a lender is checking your income multiple (typically 4.5 times income, though some schemes now stretch to six times for eligible first-time buyers), your deposit size, your monthly outgoings against your income, and how long you have been in your job and at your current address. A thin credit file with almost no history can count against you just as much as a poor one, since a lender has nothing to judge. Anyone weighing up how much they can realistically borrow should also see how a smaller 5% deposit changes the monthly cost against a 10% one, since deposit size moves the maths more than most people expect.

So if you're stuck worrying about a three-digit number, you're looking at the wrong document. Pull your actual credit report, not just the app's headline score, and check what a lender would genuinely see.

What a genuinely patchy credit history actually costs you

The real consequence of a poor credit history isn't usually an outright rejection, it's a worse rate through a specialist lender and a bigger deposit requirement. Take a fairly typical £190,000 first-time buyer purchase. With a clean-ish file and a 10% deposit, today's best-buy 90% LTV mainstream rate is 4.74% (Santander, HomeOwners Alliance/Mortgage Advice Bureau, 28 August 2026), giving a £171,000 loan and a monthly repayment of roughly £974 over 25 years.

With a more serious adverse credit history, such as a recent default or missed payments, a specialist lender such as Pepper Money, Kensington Mortgages or Aldermore would typically ask for a bigger deposit, around 15%, and charge somewhere in the 5.5% to 6.5% range depending on how recent and severe the issue is (specialist lender broker guidance, 2026). At 6.5% on the resulting £161,500 loan, the monthly repayment comes to roughly £1,091, about £117 a month more than the mainstream scenario, even though the specialist buyer has put down a bigger deposit on the same house. Over two years, that's close to £2,800 in extra payments, not a declined application, just a more expensive one.

The maths, in one place:

£190,000 purchase, 25-year repayment term. Mainstream, 10% deposit, 4.74% (90% LTV): £171,000 loan, roughly £974/month. Specialist lender, 15% deposit, 6.5% (adverse credit): £161,500 loan, roughly £1,091/month. Difference: about £117/month, or roughly £2,800 over two years, for the same house.

So the real cost of a patchy credit history isn't the door closing, it's paying more each month for the same house, which is a maths problem you can plan around rather than a wall you hit.

What actually improves your chances

Start with your credit report rather than your score. Roughly 9 million UK adults have some kind of mistake on their credit file (Royal London, January 2023), and because not every lender checks all three agencies, an error sitting on just one report can still count against you at the wrong lender. Pull your free report from Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, check for accounts that are not yours, wrong addresses or outdated defaults, and dispute anything factually wrong before you apply.

Beyond that, register on the electoral roll if you have not already, since lenders use it to confirm your identity and address history. Pay down existing debt where you can, since your outgoings-to-income ratio matters as much as any historic missed payment. Avoid taking out new credit or submitting several mortgage applications in a short window before you apply, since each hard search leaves a temporary mark. None of this involves watching a number tick up on an app; it involves fixing the actual document a lender will read. Anyone weighing whether to buy now on a tighter budget should also understand what a genuine Stamp Duty threshold looks like this year, since some first-time buyers are budgeting against a rule that expired well over a year ago, and how a scheme like the no-deposit mortgage route compares in practice.

So if you're months away from applying, the most useful thing you can do this week isn't check your score again, it's pull the actual report and start fixing what is on it.

What this means for you

Most people who spend the night before a mortgage appointment refreshing a free credit app are anxious about the wrong thing. The maths points toward spending that energy on your actual credit file instead: pull all three reports, correct any errors, pay down what you can, and stop making new credit applications in the months before you apply. If your history is genuinely patchy, the honest position is that you will likely end up with a specialist lender at a higher rate rather than a flat refusal, so it's worth running the real numbers, like the £117-a-month gap above, before assuming you can't buy at all. And once you do have an offer in hand, most people in this position are better served checking their first-year homeowner costs early rather than being caught out by them after completion, frankly, because a mortgage that clears underwriting is only the first budget you will need to get right.