Yes, you can get a mortgage with only Social Security income. Federal law bars lenders from turning you down because your money comes from government benefits, and FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional loan programs all accept Social Security retirement, disability, and survivor benefits as qualifying income. What matters is how you document the income and whether the monthly amount, after a favorable adjustment lenders apply to tax-free benefits, supports the payment on the home you want to buy.
The Law Protects You From Being Rejected Over the Income Source
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act makes it illegal for a lender to discriminate against you because your income comes from a public assistance program, including Social Security retirement, Social Security Disability Insurance, and Supplemental Security Income.1Federal Trade Commission. Equal Credit Opportunity Act Regulation B, which implements the law, requires lenders to evaluate benefit income on its own merits and forbids them from applying tougher standards than they would to a wage earner.2National Credit Union Administration. Equal Credit Opportunity Act (Regulation B)
The same law protects older applicants. A lender can ask your age to assess whether your income might change at retirement, but it cannot score your age against you.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1691 – Scope of Prohibition A lender cannot deny your mortgage on the theory that you may not live long enough to pay it off.
If a lender crosses those lines, you can sue for actual damages plus punitive damages of up to $10,000 individually, with attorney fees and costs available to successful plaintiffs.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1691e – Civil Liability
How Lenders Count Social Security Toward Your Qualifying Income
Two documents establish the income. The first is your benefit verification letter, which you can download instantly from your personal “my Social Security” account at ssa.gov; it confirms your current monthly benefit, Medicare deductions, and the net amount deposited.5Social Security Administration. How Can I Get a Benefit Verification Letter The second is Form SSA-1099, which the SSA mails every January showing the prior year’s total benefits.6Social Security Administration. Get Your Social Security Benefit Statement (SSA-1099) Most lenders also want two to three months of bank statements showing the deposits.
Grossing Up Tax-Free Benefits
Because Social Security is often partially or fully exempt from federal income tax, lenders apply a calculation called “grossing up” to reflect what the money is actually worth compared to taxed wages. Under widely followed guidelines, a lender can increase nontaxable income by up to 25 percent for qualification purposes. A $2,000 monthly benefit becomes $2,500 of qualifying income. That adjustment is one of the main reasons a Social Security–only applicant can qualify for more house than the raw benefit number suggests.
Lenders can also factor in the automatic cost-of-living adjustments built into Social Security. Benefits rose 2.8 percent for 2026, so your income is not treated as frozen.7Social Security Administration. Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) Information
Continuance Rules for Disability Benefits
If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance, lenders must presume the income will continue unless your benefit verification letter shows a defined expiration date within three years of the loan.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. CFPB Bulletin 2014-03 – Disability Income A pending medical review is not evidence that benefits will stop. Lenders also cannot ask about the nature of your disability or request medical records, and a request of that kind may itself violate federal lending rules.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Social Security Disability Income Shouldn’t Mean You Don’t Qualify for a Mortgage
The Numbers You Need To Hit
Your debt-to-income ratio measures your total monthly debts (the projected mortgage, car loans, credit card minimums, and other obligations) against your grossed-up monthly income. A common benchmark is 43 percent, but the real ceiling depends on the program and how the file underwrites. Fannie Mae’s automated system can approve conventional loans with ratios up to 50 percent.10Fannie Mae. Debt-to-Income Ratios FHA also allows higher ratios when the borrower has strong compensating factors like cash reserves or minimal other debt.
Credit score minimums vary by program:
- FHA loans: 580 or higher qualifies you for the 3.5 percent down payment; scores from 500 to 579 require 10 percent down.11U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Does FHA Require a Minimum Credit Score and How Is It Determined
- VA loans: the VA sets no minimum, but most VA-approved lenders look for 580 to 620.
- Conventional loans: generally 620, with better rates at higher scores.
A clean twelve-month payment history helps every file. A stronger score also lowers your interest rate, which lowers your monthly payment, which in turn improves your debt-to-income ratio. The pieces reinforce each other.
Which Loan Programs Work Best on a Fixed Income
FHA Loans
FHA is a common fit because the credit threshold is lower and the down payment can be as little as 3.5 percent.12U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Helping Americans – Loans The trade-off is mortgage insurance. You pay a one-time upfront premium of 1.75 percent of the loan (often rolled into the balance) plus an annual premium. For a typical 3.5 percent down borrower on a loan up to $726,200, the annual premium is 0.55 percent and lasts for the life of the loan; putting 10 percent or more down reduces that premium and ends it after 11 years. On a $200,000 loan, the annual premium alone adds roughly $92 to the monthly payment. Build those costs into your affordability math from the start.
VA Loans
If you are a veteran or qualifying surviving spouse, a VA purchase loan often requires no down payment and no monthly mortgage insurance.13Veterans Affairs. Purchase Loan VA underwriting also uses a residual-income test, confirming you have enough money left each month after major obligations, scaled to your family size and region. The structure is especially favorable for borrowers combining VA disability payments with Social Security.
USDA Loans
USDA’s single-family guaranteed program offers 100 percent financing in eligible rural and suburban areas.14Rural Development. Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program The program is designed for lower-income households and sets income caps based on area median income, so your benefits must fall within the limit for your county.
Conventional Loans
Conventional loans usually want a 620 score and add private mortgage insurance if you put less than 20 percent down.15Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is Private Mortgage Insurance Unlike FHA insurance, PMI can be canceled once your balance reaches 80 percent of the home’s original value, which often makes conventional cheaper over time if your credit is strong and you can afford a larger down payment.
If Your Benefit Alone Is Not Enough: Adding a Co-Borrower
When the income math falls short, FHA allows a non-occupant co-borrower, someone who signs the note but does not live in the home. The co-borrower must be a family member, which FHA defines broadly to include a parent, child, grandparent, sibling, spouse, in-law, stepfamily member, or legally adopted child.16U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 17Social Security Administration. A Guide to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for Groups and Organizations Your primary residence and the land under it are fully excluded, so owning a home does not threaten eligibility on its own.
The pitfall is selling one home to buy another. You must reinvest the sale proceeds into a replacement home within three months, or the cash becomes a countable resource that can push you over the limit and interrupt your payments.18Social Security Administration. Exclusion of the Home Installment payments from a buyer each start their own three-month clock. Sequence the sale and purchase carefully.
Budget for Closing Costs
Closing costs usually land between two and five percent of the purchase price, and a fixed-income buyer should plan for that number early. Seller concessions are one way to shrink the out-of-pocket hit: you negotiate for the seller to pay part of your closing costs. FHA permits concessions of up to six percent of the purchase price or appraised value, whichever is lower, applied to items like origination fees, the appraisal, title charges, and prepaid taxes. Combined with a modest down payment program, concessions can be the difference between an approval you can afford to close and one you cannot.