On July 8, 2025, Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) Director Bill Pulte announced in a social media post that the government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “GSEs”), will accept either the VantageScore 4.0 credit model or Classic FICO alone for mortgage underwriting, effective immediately.
As previously discussed here, in October 2022, FHFA approved two new model credit score models, VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, for use by the GSEs. In March 2023, FHFA initially projected milestones for transitioning from the Classic FICO three credit reports (“tri-merge”) to the two new credit reports (“bi-merge”) for single-family loan acquisitions.
Instead of progressing along the milestones previously issued, the announcement states that lenders are now able to use VantageScore 4.0 immediately, keeping the tri-merge model, with no new requirements to move to a bi-merge. Until now, the GSEs have required credit scores from a single model, the Classic FICO, provided by the Fair Isaac Corporation. Lenders may now choose between the two approved credit score models.
In July 2024, the GSEs released historical credit score data associated with VantageScore 4.0 for tens of millions of loans acquired beginning in April 2023. The credit score model FICO 10T was also validated and approved for adoption by the GSEs in 2022. FHFA states that the GSEs are expected to begin publishing historical data for the FICO 10T model and will announce implementation plans at a later date. This is a departure from previous FHFA announcements which indicated the VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T models would be implemented together and provide a bi-merge score.
The new credit score models provide a broad view of a consumer’s creditworthiness by considering rent, utility, and telecom payments in the credit score. In addition, FHFA contends that providing lenders with a choice of approved credit score models “should help consumers, lenders, and other market participants realize the benefits of robust competition, such as lowering closing costs.”
To view the updated policy on FHFA’s website, click here.