What do lenders look at besides your credit score in Des Moines?
Beyond your credit score, lenders can weigh your income, the debts you’re already carrying, how long ago the trouble happened, and the direction you’re heading. Not every lender chooses to look — many decide on the number alone. At Affinity, looking closer is structural: we’re a CDFI, chartered to serve people the bigger institutions screen out on a score.
If your credit score keeps getting in the way — a loan turned down, an application that didn’t go anywhere — you’ve probably started to wonder whether that one number is the whole story. Here’s the honest answer: at Affinity, it isn’t. A score is one piece of the picture, not the verdict. This page is part of our larger guide to rebuilding your credit in Des Moines, and it’s about the part most lenders don’t explain — what we actually look at when we sit down with the numbers.
This page is education, not personal financial advice.
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Serving Des Moines since 1949
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Most banks want you when you’re already doing well. We work with you when you’re not.
We look at more than your score
When most banks pull your credit, the score does the deciding. If the number’s low, the answer’s no — and it’s your problem to figure out why.
We work differently. A loan decision here isn’t a rubber-stamped number. We look at the fuller picture: your income and whether the payments actually fit it, the debts you’re already carrying, and how long ago the hard part happened. A rough patch two years behind you reads very differently than one that’s still going on — and a score on its own can’t tell those two stories apart.
There’s a structural reason we can do this. Affinity is a CDFI — a community development financial institution. We’re chartered, in part, to work with people the bigger institutions screen out on a number alone. That’s not a marketing line. It’s the kind of lender we’re built to be. So when we say we look at more than your score, we mean it’s written into who we are.
Your score is a summary of your reports — and you can read exactly what’s in yours for free at AnnualCreditReport.com, which is worth doing before any application.
Why income and existing debts matter as much as the number
A credit score is a snapshot of the past. Your income and your current debts say more about whether a payment works today.
We want to understand what’s actually coming in, and what’s already going out. If you’ve got steady income and room in your budget, that counts — even if your score took a hit during a stretch you’ve since climbed out of. The question we’re really asking isn’t “what’s the number,” it’s “does this make sense for you, and can we set it up so it works.”
That’s a conversation, not a calculation. And it’s one we’d rather have early — before something becomes harder than it needs to be.
How long ago the trouble was — and why that’s not held against you forever
Hard things happen. A job change, a medical surprise, a divorce, a bad year — most of us have one somewhere in our history. A score doesn’t know whether you’re still in it or three years past it.
We pay attention to that. Trouble that’s well behind you, with steady months since, tells us you’ve already done the harder part of the work. We’d rather see where you are now than judge you on where you were. The point isn’t speed or a perfect record — it’s direction. If you’re moving the right way, that matters here.
Talk it through with Gage before you assume the answer is no
If you’ve been turned down before, the natural instinct is to not bother asking again. We get it. But the thing that disqualified you somewhere else may not be the thing that decides it here.
Gage, our financial coach, can sit down and look at the whole picture with you — no account required, no pressure, just a conversation. You don’t need a strong score to start. You just need to talk it through. Often the most useful thing isn’t an application at all — it’s understanding where you actually stand and what a realistic next step looks like.
This page is educational — it’s about how lending decisions get made, not personal financial advice for your specific situation. For that, a real conversation beats any web page.
“They have helped me in so many ways, but the biggest is building up my credit from 0.” — Jessica, Affinity member, public Google review
If a recent no is what brought you here, our guide on what to do after being turned down walks through the next steps — or come talk it through at either Des Moines branch, Hoffman Lane or South Army Post Road.
Frequently Asked Questions
A low score doesn’t automatically mean no — not here. As a CDFI, Affinity looks at the fuller picture: your income, the debts you’re already carrying, and how long ago any trouble happened. The number is one piece, not the whole decision. The best way to find out where you stand is to talk it through with Gage, our financial coach.
Beyond the score itself, we look at your income and whether a payment realistically fits it, your existing debts, and the timing of any past financial trouble — recent versus well behind you. Together those say more about today than a single number from the past.
Not with us. We pay attention to how long ago the hard part was. Trouble that’s behind you, with steady months since, tells us you’ve already done the harder work. We’d rather see where you are now than judge you on where you were.
No. You can sit down with Gage and run the numbers first — no account required, no pressure, just a conversation. Often the most useful first step isn’t an application at all, it’s understanding where you actually stand and what a realistic next step looks like.
Your next step
If your score keeps being the thing that gets in the way, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Reach out and talk it through with Gage — no account required, no pressure, just a real conversation about where you stand and what’s possible. You bring the situation; we’ll work with you from there.
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