{"id":23,"date":"2026-10-11T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.room-vu.com\/mrkenmortgage-com\/2026\/10\/11\/homebuyers-lending-standards-are-still-tight-but-new-credit-scores-may-help\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:00:00","slug":"homebuyers-lending-standards-are-still-tight-but-new-credit-scores-may-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/11\/homebuyers-lending-standards-are-still-tight-but-new-credit-scores-may-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Homebuyers: Lending Standards Are Still Tight, but New Credit Scores May Help"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"roomvu-news-container\">\n<p>After 30 years guiding borrowers through the mortgage maze, I\u2019ve seen how lending standards can tighten and make homebuying feel just out of reach\u2014especially right now, with home sales hovering near a 31-year low. High mortgage rates and rising costs aren\u2019t helping, either. While new credit scoring models are starting to count rent and utility payments\u2014a long-overdue change\u2014many folks, particularly low-income and minority buyers, still aren\u2019t getting a fair shot, even with strong payment histories and low default rates. I\u2019ve always believed a person&#039;s real story is more than just numbers on a page, especially for those whose income doesn\u2019t fit the standard mold. Navigating these hurdles takes experience and a deep understanding of what lenders look for\u2014and sometimes, a little creativity to get the right fit across the finish line.<\/p>\n<p>\t<a class=\"roomvu-news-continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mortgageresearch.com\/articles\/mortgage-lending-standards-new-credit-scores\/\"><\/p>\n<div>Continue to full article<\/div>\n<p>\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After 30 years guiding borrowers through the mortgage maze, I\u2019ve seen how lending standards can tighten and make homebuying feel just out of reach\u2014especially right now, with home sales hovering near a 31-year low. High mortgage rates and rising costs aren\u2019t helping, either. While new credit scoring models are starting to count rent and utility [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrkenmortgage.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}