GoodLeap Credit Score Requirements

GoodLeap does not publish a single minimum credit score. Third-party reviews cite about 600, while installer program guides list 680, so the bar depends on the program your installer uses. Here is what to expect at each score range and how to improve your odds.

GoodLeap Credit Tier Breakdown

Other GoodLeap Qualification Factors

• Debt-to-income ratio. GoodLeap reviews debt-to-income, and installer program guides indicate it gets closer scrutiny when your score is below 700. Many lenders look for 50% or less including the new payment.
• Verifiable income. W-2 employment is simplest; self-employed and gig workers may need to provide tax returns.
• Property ownership. GoodLeap only finances installations on residential property you own; installer program guides indicate primary and second homes can qualify, while investment and vacation properties do not.
• Age and residency. You must be 18 or older and a US resident (installer program guides indicate ITIN applicants may qualify).
• No recent bankruptcy or foreclosure. Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy within the last two to four years can disqualify an application.
• Clean trade line history. Multiple recent late payments or collections significantly reduce approval odds.

What If Your Credit Score Is Too Low?

If your FICO score is below 600, GoodLeap will likely decline. In that situation, consider:

• Adding a creditworthy co-signer to the application
• Waiting six to twelve months while improving your credit score
• Applying for a secured loan backed by a home equity line of credit (HELOC)
• Applying for a smaller personal loan to cover a portion of the project in cash
• Working with a local credit union that may underwrite more flexibly

GoodLeap and Credit Pulls

When your contractor submits an application for GoodLeap financing, GoodLeap typically performs a soft credit pull during the initial underwriting decision, which does not affect your credit score. If approved and you proceed to sign the loan documents, GoodLeap performs a hard credit pull, which temporarily lowers your FICO score by a few points. If you are shopping multiple solar quotes from installers that use different lenders, submit all applications within a 14-day window so that FICO treats them as a single rate-shopping inquiry.

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How to Monitor and Improve Your FICO Score Before Applying

A FICO score is a three-digit number that summarizes your credit risk to a lender, drawn from the information reported about you to the three major US consumer credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Scores range from 300 to 850, and most consumer lenders use a model called FICO 8, though some use newer versions such as FICO 9 or FICO 10, or the competing VantageScore model. Different models produce slightly different scores from the same underlying data, which is why your score at one source may not match the score another source shows.

Several free services let you monitor your FICO score and credit report without affecting your credit: Credit Karma, Experian's free direct offering, Credit Sesame, and the free weekly reports available at AnnualCreditReport.com. These services update your score monthly or weekly and show you the full credit report content, including which accounts are reporting, which balances are high relative to limits, and whether any derogatory marks appear on your file.

The highest-impact actions for improving a FICO score are paying down revolving credit card balances (keeping utilization below 30 percent of the limit on each card and overall), making every payment on time without exception for at least six months, and avoiding opening or closing credit accounts in the three months before you plan to apply for a major loan. Hard credit pulls can shave a few points off your score temporarily, so time new credit applications carefully.

If your credit report contains errors — accounts that are not yours, incorrect balances, late payments that were paid on time, or accounts still showing as open that should be closed — file a formal dispute with each of the three credit bureaus. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires the bureau to investigate within 30 days and correct verified errors. Correcting a single significant error can raise your score by 20 to 60 points.

Frequently asked questions