I googled and found a broker for my USDA guaranteed loan. I asked them upfront what the min score was. He said they liked it to be 640 but could sometimes work around a 620. At that time (6 months ago) mine was 620 and I qualified but I had to submit rent checks from the past 24 months, etc before they actually approved me. The deal fell through when the appraisal came back low and the sellers wouldn't budge. I was so disappointed. Out the money for the appraisal, plus I had several new pulls on my credit which did make my score drop some but not very much. I got another credit card 4 months ago to raise my limits plus I paid off all balances on my other credit cards and now my middle score is TU 660 (lender pulled). I'm currently going through this nerve racking process again but at least this time the appraisal has came back good. I also tried calling all of my areas local banks ( I live in a small community). None of the local banks did USDA loans so I didn't have much choice but to rely on Google. I would try asking friends, then calling local banks, then if all else fails, Google. My realtor didn't seem to know anything about USDA loans but others probably do. My realtor tried to convince me to get a conventional mortgage because she said it would be quicker. I didn't/don't have 20% down so I couldn't, she suggested I should just borrow from family, I was like...NO! Good luck!
