When it comes to shopping for a mortgage to buy a house, one critical factor to check is your credit score. Lenders use your credit score (aka FICO score) to decide whether to loan you money to buy a home and at what interest rate.

“Lenders grant credit based on their confidence you can be trusted to pay back what you borrowed,” says Stephen Rosen, head of sales at mortgage company Better. “If you are worthy of a lender’s financial trust, you are said to be creditworthy, or to have ‘good credit.’ Building credit is almost like building a reputation with lenders.”

Credit scores range from 300 to 850. While the definition of good/bad credit varies slightly from creditor to creditor, here’s a general rundown:

• Excellent credit score: 750–850
• Good credit score: 700–749
• Fair credit score: 650–699
• Poor credit score: 649 and lower

Unfortunately, it’s easy to make mistakes that lower your credit score and jeopardize your odds of getting a home loan. Here are the five worst credit mistakes a homebuyer can make—plus how to turn things around and get your credit back on track.    Read more……