Cherry Creek Mortgage Company announced on February 20, 2009 that they are now requiring minimum credit scores of 620 or higher for most FHA and VA loans. This comes as no surprise since most industry standards with investors have already moved in this direction. These new credit score requirements will not apply to borrowers who are applying for an FHA Streamline Refinance or VA Interest Rate Reduction.

Now please be aware that this is NOT an FHA or VA rule. FHA and VA loans in general are not credit score driven programs. However, due to higher default rates on these type of loans, the investor market who buys these loans put in certain stop gaps to get a better handle on marginal credit score borrowers and high default rates.