Where to Find Long Term Rental Financing

[Jason Morgan]

Good morning BP,

I have a question, I have been looking for 30 year rental property loans. I attend my local REIA group every month and was told I would need 20% down and a credit score of 630. In order to come up with the down payment I sold my personal residence, I now have the 20% down.

I contacted the rep who worked for the hard money lender who does 30 year loans and they said my middle credit score was below a 620. This was strange because when I sold my house I got pre-approved through a traditional bank to buy a personal property, I am currently renting and would rather buy investment properties before I buy a home to live in. 

I took the lender/rep at his word and said I would apply at a later date and check my scores in a month. I am currently signed up for a few of the credit monitoring services so I got an email and I checked my scores and they were 657 TransUnion and 661 Equifax. I told this to the lender and they said they still can't extend credit. 

Do you need an excellent credit score, 720 or above to get rental loan? I would think buying with 20% down and holding and not flipping would be a lot safer, why is it so hard to find a rental loan? Any suggestions?