Category: Mortgage Education

TL;DR: Doctor loans let specific medical professionals borrow up to 100% of a home’s value with no mortgage insurance. The loans qualify through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As a broker, I now have access to a doctor loans program that competes head-to-head with the big-bank versions. That means your client doesn’t have to use Chase or Bank of America to get the structure.

What are doctor loans, in plain English?

Your client tells you they’re a physician moving to Seattle for residency. Or a dentist buying their first home after years of student debt. Here’s what they need to hear: doctor loans are designed for them. They don’t punish them for the way medical careers actually work. People sometimes call them physician loans or medical professionals programs. They let eligible borrowers finance up to 100% of the purchase price with no mortgage insurance. They also treat deferred student loans differently than a conventional loan. And they let future income from a signed employment contract count for qualifying.

For years, the big retail banks owned these conforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-eligible programs. Chase, BofA, Wells, a few regionals. The pitch was always the same. “Open a checking account with us and we’ll do your mortgage.” That worked when there was no alternative. Now there is.

Who qualifies for doctor loans?

The eligible degree list matters. Clients (and frankly some agents) assume “doctor loans” means anything with “Dr.” in front of the borrower’s name. They don’t. Specifically, the program I have access to qualifies these designations:

• Doctor of Medicine (MD)
• Doctor of Osteopathy (DO)
• Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)
• Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD)
• Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD)
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM or VMD)
• Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM)
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA)
• Medical residents and fellows holding one of the above degrees

Borrowers need an active employment contract in their field, or documented offer acceptance. They also need to practice without supervision. Residents and fellows are the exception. Non-occupant co-borrowers work too. However, their income can’t be more than 50% of total qualifying income.

What’s not on the list trips agents up every time. Chiropractors. Registered nurses. Physician assistants. Nurse practitioners (unless they’re CRNAs). Psychologists, optometrists, audiologists, dental hygienists. If your client falls in that gap, they’re a conventional or FHA borrower. Not a doctor-loan borrower. Worth knowing before you write the offer.

Doctor loans by the numbers: LTV, FICO, and DTI

For a primary residence purchase or rate-and-term refinance, one-unit:

• 95% LTV up to $2,000,000 with a 680 FICO
• 100% LTV up to $1,500,000 with a 680 FICO
• 100% LTV up to $2,000,000 with a 720 FICO

Maximum DTI is 50% when the LTV is 95% or below. It’s 45% when LTV is between 90.01% and 100%. The program offers 15, 20, 25, or 30-year fixed terms. ARMs come in 5/6, 7/6, and 10/6 flavors. However, temporary rate buydowns aren’t eligible. Flag that for your client if their mom-and-dad-funded buydown was the plan.

Doctor loans vs. PMI: why no mortgage insurance matters

On a $1,000,000 loan at 95% LTV, monthly mortgage insurance on a conventional loan can run $300 to $600 a month. The exact number depends on the borrower’s credit and the MI company. That’s $3,600 to $7,200 a year your client throws away. The payment builds zero equity. It never goes to interest. It never reaches their tax accountant in any useful way. Doctor loans remove it entirely.

So when an agent tells me “the rate looks half a point higher than the conventional quote” — yes, sometimes it is. However, run the all-in payment with MI on the conventional. Doctor loans often win by $200 to $400 a month. Even with a slightly higher note rate. That’s the comparison your client should be looking at, not the rate alone.

Student loans: what gets excluded from DTI

This is the part that keeps doctors from qualifying anywhere else. For example: a new attending pulling $280,000 a year still has $400,000 in student loans in deferment. That normally kills mortgage qualification. A conventional underwriter wants to count 1% of the balance as a monthly payment. That’s $4,000 against the DTI right out of the gate.

Doctor loans exclude student loan payments from DTI when both of these are true. The borrower is currently in residency or a medical clinical fellowship. AND they’re qualifying based on the income they’re receiving during that residency or fellowship. Outside that lane — once they’re an attending, or qualifying on contract income that hasn’t started — the loan payment counts. But with flexibility on how:

• If the credit report shows a real monthly payment, the underwriter uses that number
• If the credit report shows $0 or no payment, the underwriter has options: a documented Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) amount, 1% of the balance for deferred or forbearance loans, or a fully amortizing payment using the actual repayment terms

The 1% rule sounds harsh. But it’s still better than what some lenders use. Those lenders apply the fully amortizing payment regardless of the actual situation.

Future income: signing a contract before the start date

Match Day is March 20th this year. New residents get told what city and what hospital. They sign a contract. They need housing — often before their first paycheck hits. Fortunately, doctor loans handle this with a projected income provision. A fully executed employment contract or offer letter qualifies the borrower. The start date can sit up to 150 days after the note date. For agents working with residents matching into UW Medicine, Seattle Children’s, Swedish, or Virginia Mason, this is the loan that turns “I can’t buy yet” into “let’s look at West Seattle and Beacon Hill this weekend.”

The contract has to spell out the position, start date, and salary. The only allowed contingencies are receipt of the medical license and normal administrative items. Background checks. Drug testing. Fingerprinting. The borrower also needs reserves to cover an extra month of PITIA (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, assessments) for every month between the first payment due date and the day employment starts.

Practical translation for agents: your client is house-hunting in February and starts work July 1st. This is the loan that lets them close in May. Build that into your timeline conversations.

Reserves and gift funds

Reserves scale with loan size and LTV:

• Loans $100,000 to $1,500,000 at LTV under 95%: 0 months reserves
• Loans $1,500,001 to $2,000,000 at LTV under 95%: 3 months
• Loans $100,000 to $1,500,000 at LTV over 95%: 3 months
• Loans $1,500,001 to $2,000,000 at LTV over 95%: 6 months

Gift funds work, and they count toward reserves. That’s a meaningful difference from a lot of conventional loan programs. Documentation is light. One month of bank statements for refinances. Two months for purchases.

The Match Day window: an agent’s calendar reminder

Match Day is when fourth-year medical students find out which hospital they’ll do residency at. They learn where they’re moving. Most institutions send new residents a welcome packet with information about the area. Many of those packets include preferred lender and realtor contacts. So if you’re an agent in a market with a major teaching hospital, March is when you should be making sure you’re on that list. I work with brokers and agents who get added to those packets every year. Doctor loans are part of why that referral chain works.

For Puget Sound agents specifically: the Match Day window catches residents heading to UW Medicine in West Seattle’s broader catchment, Virginia Mason, Harborview, and the Swedish system across Seattle and Bellevue. Burien, Tukwila, and Renton tend to attract the dual-career resident households where one spouse commutes north for work — keep those neighborhoods on the showings list.

Doctor loans FAQ

Can doctor loans be used for a second home or investment property?

No. This program covers primary residence only — purchase or rate-and-term refinance. If your client wants to keep their current home and buy a new one, the new home has to be their primary. For investment property financing, they’d need a different product.

Do residents and fellows really qualify, or is it just for attendings?

Residents and fellows holding an MD, DO, DDS, DMD, PharmD, DVM, VMD, DPM, or CRNA degree qualify. The program treats them well. Their student loans drop out of DTI when the qualifying income is the residency or fellowship income. Projected income from a signed contract works if the start date sits within 150 days of the note date.

What’s the minimum credit score and loan amount for doctor loans?

The minimum FICO is 680. Minimum loan amount is $100,000 for fixed-rate products and $350,000 for ARMs. Maximum loan amount is $2,000,000.

How is this different from the doctor loan at a big bank?

The structure is similar. Most banks offer 100% LTV no-MI for medical professionals. However, the differences show up in pricing and the fine print. Some banks tack on a “you have to be our depository client” requirement. They also cross-sell aggressively. As a broker, I shop the loan rather than tying it to a deposit relationship. That usually means a more competitive rate. And a lender who isn’t trying to sell your client a wealth management package on the side.

Do doctor loans work for a borrower with a recent credit event?

The program requires four years since a major credit event or notice of default. Mortgage and rent history needs to be clean — zero 30-day lates in the past 12 months. If your client had something happen during med school or residency that’s still on their report, run the dates with me before you assume they’re disqualified.

Don’t just take my word on doctor loans

If you want a read on how I work with clients before sending one my way, here’s where past borrowers and partners have weighed in:

Follow along:

If you have a client matching at a Colorado or Washington hospital this Match Day cycle, or an attending who’s been told they need to put 20% down to avoid PMI — send them my way. Doctor loans are no longer a big-bank-only product.

Program details, guidelines, and pricing accurate as of April 30, 2026, and subject to change without notice. Loan approval is subject to underwriter review, credit qualification, and program eligibility at the time of application. Please contact me directly to confirm current program availability and verify that the terms outlined above are still in effect for your client’s specific situation.