DSCR Loans Below 1.0: Which Lenders Will Consider a Low-DSCR Deal?

By DSCRDeals · Published August 19, 2026 · Updated September 13, 2026

Your rental produces $2,350 a month. The mortgage, taxes and insurance run $2,500. That's a 0.94 DSCR — the property doesn't quite cover its own debt service.

Does that kill the deal?

No. But it does eliminate some lenders.

That's one of the things I've learned digging into DSCR loans: “DSCR lender” doesn't mean every lender uses the same DSCR rules. Some want the property at 1.0x or better. Others will consider a property that's slightly negative. A few publish no-ratio or zero-DSCR options.

The catch is that when DSCR gets weaker, something else usually has to get stronger — credit, down payment, reserves, experience, or some combination of them.

If you don't know your number yet, start with the DSCR Calculator. If you already know your numbers, screen a 0.95x deal.

Affiliate disclosure: DSCRDeals may receive compensation from some lenders listed on this site. That does not determine which lenders are included or how they're described. Lima One Capital, for example, is a referral partner but its current 1.0x general-rental minimum makes it a poor fit for the sub-1.0 deals discussed here.

Data freshness: This comparison was reviewed September 13, 2026 against current lender-published program information and direct lender information where available. Program terms can change. DSCRDeals distinguishes published terms from items that are not publicly disclosed rather than filling gaps with estimates.

Why would a lender approve a DSCR below 1.0?

A 1.0 DSCR is basically break-even for the lender's calculation. If the qualifying monthly rent is $2,500 and the qualifying housing expense is $2,500, the DSCR is 1.00. At 0.90, the income being counted covers about 90% of that expense.

That is weaker than a 1.25 or 1.50 deal, but DSCR isn't the only risk in the file. A lender may accept weaker property cash flow when leverage, credit, reserves, borrower experience or another part of the transaction offsets it. That's why the headline DSCR minimum is only the beginning.

Which lenders will consider DSCR below 1.0?

The table below includes programs in the current DSCRDeals directory for which we have verified a published sub-1.0 position, a no-ratio option or no published hard DSCR minimum.

Those numbers are screening tools, not approval guarantees. More important: a lender's lowest DSCR, lowest FICO and highest LTV are rarely all available on the same loan.

The programs, one at a time

A&D Mortgage

A&D's published DSCR program goes as low as 0, with a broad-program 620 minimum FICO and up to 80% purchase LTV. It also publishes STR, LLC, foreign-national and 5–8 unit options. The headline numbers cannot simply be combined: A&D indicates that the lowest-DSCR scenarios require at least 680 credit, rather than giving every 620-FICO borrower maximum leverage.

Easy Street Capital

Easy Street's EasyRent program publishes no minimum DSCR, a 640 minimum FICO, up to 80% LTV on purchase/rate-term and 75% cash-out. “No minimum” removes one hard rejection point. It does not mean DSCR stops affecting pricing or leverage.

FlexPoint

FlexPoint publishes a no-ratio option, a 640+ FICO floor and up to 85% purchase LTV on eligible 1–4 unit scenarios. It also publishes STR, first-time-investor and cross-collateral options. Do not assume the no-ratio option and the maximum 85% leverage apply simultaneously to every borrower.

HomeAbroad

HomeAbroad is a special case because it is built for foreign nationals investing in U.S. rental property. Its published No-Ratio option covers ratios from 0 to 1.0, with up to 75% purchase/rate-term LTV, 70% cash-out, six months reserves and no U.S. credit score requirement for qualifying foreign-national borrowers.

New Silver

New Silver's structured Rent product lists a 0.75x minimum DSCR, 660 minimum FICO, up to 80% LTV and $150,000–$3 million loan amounts. Its current expected closing timeframe is approximately 14–21 days.

OfferMarket

OfferMarket publishes a 0.75x absolute DSCR floor, but sub-1.0 deals carry real restrictions: generally 70–75% maximum LTV, 6–12 months reserves, no qualification using STR income, no first-time investors, and no vacant/unleased or rural properties. That is why “0.75 DSCR and 80% LTV” should not be presented as though both headline numbers automatically apply to the same loan.

Referral disclosure: OfferMarket is a DSCRDeals referral partner.

OptionWide Financial

OptionWide's published 1–4 unit programs go as low as 0.75x DSCR, 640 FICO and up to 80% purchase LTV. Its separate 5–8 unit program uses different requirements, including a 1.0x DSCR and higher credit threshold, so property size matters.

Kiavi

Kiavi advertises DSCR as low as 0.8x and leverage up to 80%. Its current public rental materials do not give us a universal hard FICO floor, so DSCRDeals does not manufacture one.

Visio Lending

Visio describes 0.75–0.99 DSCR as an acceptable range and publishes a 680 minimum credit score. That makes it especially relevant to deals that almost cash flow but fall just short of 1.0.

Asteris Lending

Asteris publishes a 680 minimum FICO, up to 80% LTV, $100,000–$5 million loan amounts, three months reserves and a 10–21 day closing timeline. Its current DSCR product page does not state a hard minimum. That is different from explicitly advertising “no minimum DSCR.”

A 0.95 DSCR and a 0.70 DSCR are not the same problem

Roughly 0.90–0.99

You are just under break-even. Several programs in the directory can potentially work, depending on credit, leverage, property type and experience. At this level, the question is less “does anyone lend below 1.0?” and more “which program fits the rest of my file?”

Roughly 0.75–0.89

The field narrows. New Silver and OfferMarket publish 0.75 floors, OptionWide publishes 0.75 on eligible 1–4 unit programs, Kiavi advertises as low as 0.8, and the no-ratio/no-minimum programs become more relevant. This is where the rest of the file starts doing much more work.

Below 0.75

Now you are outside the published floors we've verified for New Silver, OfferMarket, OptionWide and Kiavi. A&D, Easy Street, FlexPoint and HomeAbroad have published structures that can reach lower in eligible scenarios, while Asteris does not publish a hard floor.

But this is also where I'd challenge the deal itself. Getting a lender to approve a deeply negative-cash-flow property doesn't automatically make it a good investment. Financing solves the financing problem. It doesn't solve a bad property.

What changes when DSCR gets weaker?

You may need more money down

OfferMarket is the clearest example: sub-1.0 deals generally cap leverage around 70–75%. The broader lesson is not to combine a lender's lowest DSCR with its highest advertised LTV unless the lender actually says those terms are available together.

Reserves matter

Asteris publishes three months of reserves. HomeAbroad publishes six months for its foreign-national program. OfferMarket's sub-1.0 program calls for 6–12 months. That's cash you need to account for before you call a deal financeable.

Credit can become more important

The current directory ranges from A&D at 620+, through several 640/660 programs, to Asteris and Visio at 680+. A lender willing to tolerate weaker property cash flow is not necessarily willing to tolerate weaker credit at maximum leverage too.

Property type and experience can matter

OfferMarket's sub-1.0 restrictions show this directly. FlexPoint and A&D publish broader property and borrower options, while HomeAbroad targets a specific foreign-national borrower. “Low DSCR” is not enough information by itself to match a lender.

Transaction type can change the answer

An 80% purchase and an 80% cash-out refinance are not equivalent requests. Cash-out programs commonly use lower leverage and may impose seasoning requirements. Deal Match does not yet score transaction type publicly, so confirm purchase, rate-and-term or cash-out eligibility directly after generating the shortlist.

FAQ

What's considered a low DSCR?

There is no universal cutoff. For this comparison, below 1.0x is the useful dividing line because the qualifying rental income does not fully cover the debt obligation used in the lender's calculation.

Can I get a DSCR loan if the property doesn't fully cash flow?

Potentially, yes. Multiple programs in the current DSCRDeals directory publish sub-1.0, no-ratio or no-minimum structures. Qualification still depends on the rest of the file.

Does low DSCR mean I need a bigger down payment?

Sometimes. OfferMarket is a concrete example: its sub-1.0 program generally limits leverage to 70–75%. Other lenders structure the tradeoff differently.

How much in reserves might I need?

It varies. Asteris publishes three months, HomeAbroad publishes six months for its foreign-national program, and OfferMarket's sub-1.0 program calls for 6–12 months. Verify the actual requirement for your transaction.

Is Lima One an option below 1.0 DSCR?

Not under the current general rental terms tracked by DSCRDeals, which use a 1.0x minimum. That does not make Lima One a bad DSCR lender; it makes it the wrong starting point for this specific problem.

Once you have a shortlist, read the questions to ask before you pay for the appraisal so you can compare fees, appraisal rules, reserves, prepayment penalties and potential repricing. If the requested loan is below six figures, also compare the confirmed DSCR lenders under $100K.

The real answer

A DSCR below 1.0 doesn't automatically kill a DSCR loan. It changes the lender pool.

At 0.95, you may still have several legitimate options. At 0.80, the field gets smaller. At 0.70, I'd ask two questions: Who will finance this? and Why am I buying a property this far below break-even?

Those are not the same question.

If you've already got the property numbers, match a low-DSCR deal. If you're still working them out, start with the DSCR Calculator or browse the full DSCR lender directory.