Credit Dos and Don’ts While Buying a House

The single most important credit rule while buying a house is to change nothing between your mortgage application and your closing date. That means no new loans, no new credit cards, no financed furniture, no car purchases, and no missed payments until the keys are in your hand. Your lender does not just check your credit once at application and forget about it. Federal loan guidelines push lenders to look again shortly before closing, and anything new they find, a fresh account, a hard inquiry, a spike in your card balances, can delay your loan, change your terms, or in the worst case unravel the whole deal days before you were supposed to move in.

This is why experienced loan officers talk about a credit “quiet period.” From the day you apply to the day you sign, your credit profile should sit as still as possible. Below we break down exactly what to do, what to avoid, and why the weeks before closing are the wrong time to make any move that touches your credit or your bank balances.

Why your lender looks at your credit again right before closing

Many buyers assume the credit pull at application is the only one that matters. It is not. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau states plainly that a lender will obtain your credit report “when you apply for credit, just before you close on a loan, or as part of managing existing credit accounts.” That second pull is the one that catches people off guard.

There is a specific reason lenders do this. Under Fannie Mae’s Loan Quality Initiative and its post-closing quality control rules, lenders are responsible for making sure the debts used to underwrite your loan are complete and accurate. Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide requires lenders to reverify credit history and reconcile any conflicting information, and a common industry practice is to retrieve a refreshed credit report just before the closing date to check for new activity. If that refreshed report shows a non-mortgage debt you did not disclose, the lender may have to re-underwrite the loan with the new payment factored in, and to keep certain protections in place the loan generally must close before the credit report expires. In plain terms: a new car loan or a maxed-out credit card discovered at the eleventh hour can force your lender to recalculate your debt-to-income ratio, and that recalculation can push you out of qualifying range.

None of this is meant to scare you. It is meant to explain why the guidance below is not nagging, it is the mechanics of how your loan actually gets approved.

The credit don’ts: mistakes that can delay or kill your loan

These are the moves that most often derail a mortgage in the final stretch. Every one of them can change what the lender sees on that pre-closing credit refresh or in your final bank statements.

• Don’t apply for or open any new credit. A new credit card, personal loan, or store card creates a hard inquiry and a new account, both of which can lower your score and add a monthly payment. New credit is roughly 10% of your FICO Score, and the new debt hits your debt-to-income ratio directly.
• Don’t finance or lease a car. This is the classic deal-killer. A car payment can single-handedly wreck your debt-to-income ratio. Wait until after closing.
• Don’t close old credit cards. Closing a card lowers your total available credit, which can raise your utilization ratio and shorten your average credit age, both of which can drop your score.
• Don’t make large, unexplained deposits. Underwriters must source your funds. A big deposit with no paper trail can trigger a request for documentation and stall your file.
• Don’t co-sign a loan for anyone. Co-signing makes that debt yours in the eyes of underwriting, even if someone else makes the payments.
• Don’t miss a payment on anything. Payment history is the largest single factor in your FICO Score at 35%, and a single late payment during the process is a red flag that can retrigger review.
• Don’t let a card balance spike. Even without opening new credit, running your existing cards up before closing can raise utilization and lower your score on the refresh.
• Don’t change jobs without telling your loan officer first. Lenders verify employment right before closing. A job change, a switch to commission or self-employment, or a gap can pause your loan while income is re-documented.

Notice the theme: every one of these either creates new debt, changes your score, or introduces something an underwriter now has to explain. In the quiet period, the goal is to give them nothing new to explain.

The credit dos: how to keep your file boring and clean

The good news is that protecting your loan is mostly about doing less, not more. Here is the positive playbook for the weeks between application and closing.

• Keep your balances low. Amounts owed, driven largely by your credit utilization ratio, makes up 30% of your FICO Score. myFICO notes that generally the lower your ratio, the better, and points out that people with the highest scores tend to run utilization in the low single digits. Pay cards down and keep them down through closing.
• Pay every bill on time, every time. Payment history is 35% of your score, the biggest factor. One on-time month during your loan process matters more than usual because the lender is watching.
• Keep your documentation organized. Save pay stubs, bank statements, and any paperwork for deposits or gifts. Fast, clean documentation keeps your file moving.
• Ask your loan officer before any credit move or big-money decision. This is the single most valuable habit. A 30-second text before you act can prevent weeks of delay.
• Keep your income and employment stable. Stay in your job and keep your pay structure consistent until after you close.
• Keep the same accounts open. Leave your existing cards and loans exactly as they are. Do not open, close, consolidate, or transfer balances without checking first.

Safe moves versus risky moves during the quiet period

Not every financial action is off-limits. The line is usually between things that leave your credit and documented funds untouched, and things that create new debt, new inquiries, or unexplained money. This table shows how common decisions sort out.

Situation	Safer approach	Risky move that can hurt your loan
Need a car	Wait until after closing to buy or finance	Financing or leasing a car now, adding a monthly payment
Furnishing the new home	Pay cash after closing, or save receipts	Opening a store financing card before closing
Credit card balances	Pay down and keep balances low	Running balances up or missing a due date
An old unused card	Leave it open and untouched	Closing it and shrinking your available credit
A large deposit or gift	Document the source before depositing	Depositing unexplained cash with no paper trail
Any credit decision at all	Text your loan officer first	Acting on your own and hoping it is fine

What actually happens if you slip up

Buyers sometimes assume one small mistake automatically sinks the loan. It depends. A minor balance increase might cost you a few points and no more. A new car loan, on the other hand, can change your qualifying math enough to require a fresh approval, a larger down payment, or a different loan program, and sometimes there is no fix in time. The reason the advice is strict is that you usually cannot know in advance which category your mistake falls into, and by the time the pre-closing refresh catches it, you are days from the closing table with little room to maneuver.

Our take: treat the entire stretch from application to closing as a credit quiet period. When in doubt, text your loan officer before you swipe or sign, every single time. There is no such thing as a bad question here, and the cost of asking is a few seconds. The cost of not asking can be your closing date. A good broker would far rather answer ten “is this okay?” texts than deliver bad news the week you were supposed to move in.

If you are earlier in the process and still weighing your numbers, our guide to buying a house with bad credit covers the score thresholds by loan type, and our primer on understanding your credit score digs into how balances and history move your number. If a car payment is your concern, it helps to understand what DTI really means before you decide. When you are ready to talk figures, check current Colorado Springs mortgage rates and see how to get prequalified. And any time you want a person to sanity-check a move, that is exactly what a Colorado Springs mortgage broker is for.

Frequently asked questions

Does my lender really pull my credit again right before closing? Often, yes. The CFPB confirms lenders obtain a credit report “just before you close on a loan,” and under Fannie Mae’s quality control rules many lenders retrieve a refreshed report near closing to check for new debt or inquiries. New activity found then can require re-underwriting.

Will one new hard inquiry ruin my mortgage? Usually not by itself. A single inquiry typically costs only a few points. The bigger risk is what the inquiry represents, a new loan or card that adds a monthly payment and changes your debt-to-income ratio. Ask your loan officer before applying for anything.

Can I buy a car after I get pre-approved but before closing? This is one of the riskiest moves you can make. A new car payment can change your qualifying numbers enough to jeopardize the loan. Wait until after you close, and if you feel you cannot wait, talk to your loan officer first.

Should I pay off or close credit cards to boost my score before closing? Paying balances down is generally good, since utilization is part of the 30% amounts-owed category. But closing cards can backfire by reducing your available credit and raising utilization. Do not close accounts during the process without checking first.

What if I need to make a large deposit into my account? Document where the money came from before you deposit it. Underwriters must source your funds, so an unexplained large deposit can stall your file. A gift, a bonus, or a transfer is usually fine when it is properly paper-trailed.

I got a new job offer during my loan. Now what? Tell your loan officer before you accept or start. Lenders verify employment right before closing, and a job change, especially into commission or self-employment, may require re-documenting income. It is not automatically a dealbreaker, but it must be handled proactively.

719 Lending, NMLS #1601989. Equal Housing Opportunity. 719 Lending is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency, including the FHA, VA, USDA, CHFA, FHFA, HUD, the CFPB, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac. Score factors, utilization guidance, and loan requirements are general and subject to change, confirm current details with your loan officer and lender. Last updated: June 2026.