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DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL)

DC Housing Finance Agency offers the DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL) to home buyers in the District of Columbia: up to 3.5%, as a deferred loan.

Amount
3.5% at most
Type of help
Loan with deferred payments
Only first-time buyers
No
Your credit score
At least 640

A deferred loan at 0%. It comes due after 30 years, but selling, refinancing, moving out or giving the home away makes it due sooner.

You pay nothing each month on a deferred loan, but selling, refinancing or paying off the first mortgage makes the whole amount due.

Who's eligible for the DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL)?

  • Your household can earn up to 170% of the median income for the area, with $275,400 as the limit; only what the borrower earns is counted.
  • Being a first-time buyer isn't required.
  • Your credit score needs to be 640 or more.
  • You get it alongside a DC Open Doors first trust mortgage that a participating lender provides.
  • No maximum sales price applies.

Your county and household size set most limits. Use our HUD income limit search to see the median income in your area and where your household fits.

Applying for the DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL)

  1. This help is paid out through DC Housing Finance Agency's approved lenders. You apply through one of them along with your home loan.
  2. Your lender checks the home, your credit and your income against the program's rules and sets the money aside on your behalf.
  3. At closing, the help is paid toward your closing costs and down payment.

See DC Housing Finance Agency's page for the DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL) for the full rules and whether it is open for applications now. You can also choose one of the agency's participating lenders.

DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL): ask a lender

Tell us where you're buying and a lender that works with the District of Columbia's programs can tell you whether DC Open Doors Down Payment Assistance Loan (DPAL) fits you, and what you could combine with it.

Call 866-602-7460

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When you send this request, you agree that one mortgage lender who works with these programs may contact you by email, phone or text, including by automated means, about this request. Agreeing is not a condition of any purchase. We are an independent guide, not a lender or a government agency; only that one lender gets your details, and it may pay us for the introduction. See our about page and privacy notice.

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