Trade Groups Commend FHFA Director Pulte For Pro Competition Action On Vantage Score

The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) both released statements in response to FHFA Director Pulte’s announcement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would open up VantageScore to all lenders.

“CHLA commends FHFA Director Pulte for his announcement today that VantageScore will be available for all lenders,” said Rob Zimmer, CHLA’s Director of External Affairs.  “This is a decisive action to increase competition and save mortgage borrowers money, in the face of a credit score market in which FICO has too long had a monoply.”

CHLA has long made reform in this market a top priority.  It published a White Paper in April of 2024 asking for lenders to have a choice between FICO and VantageScore.

CHLA also published credit score market price updates in April 2024 and April 2026 showcasing how FICO price increases created stresses in mortgage markets.

CHLA sent a letter to Director Pulte in July 2025 commending progress in this area but warning of large FICO price hike in Fall of 2025, which in fact did occur.

In April of this year, CHLA sent a letter to Director Pulte commending the first steps of VantageScore adoption and urging FHFA to expand VantageScore to a wider marketplace, while also asking the Director to:

  *   Direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to establish their own subsidiaries to evaluate borrower creditworthiness using their internal data and analytics
  *   Remove references to “Fair Isaac” from GSE guidelines and replace them with generic credit score requirements

This April 2026 letter also warned that “CHLA is predicting another major round of FICO price hikes this Fall for 2027, perhaps by as much as 50% from today’s prices.”

Similarly, MBA’s President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, released the following statement on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) announcements on credit reporting and scoring modernization:

“MBA commends FHFA Director William Pulte and FHFA for their continued leadership on this issue, and we welcome the full adoption of VantageScore 4.0 as an important step toward modernizing the credit scoring framework, increasing competition, and lowering costs for borrowers. This milestone builds on MBA’s industry-leading advocacy over several years to promote greater competition in credit reporting and scoring.

“We also support ending the tri-merge requirement and moving to a single-file approach for borrowers with strong credit profiles, which would further promote competition and reduce costs for consumers,” concluded Broeksmit. “These important updates will give lenders greater flexibility, enable more consumers to be scored accurately, and expand sustainable access to homeownership.”