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Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), made clear this week that credit-score pricing is firmly on his radar — and changes are coming to the requirements for mortgages purchased by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
Pulte’s comments come amid scrutiny of Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO), which licenses one of the most widely used credit-risk assessment tools in the mortgage industry. The company took a hit in the stock market following the comments.
In a post on X Wednesday morning, Pulte asked: “Why do some credit reports cost double (Biden’s term) from what they did during President Trump’s first term?”
A day earlier, he expressed frustration with the pricing structure: “After the hard work by many great Senators, including Senator Tim Scott, I am extremely disappointed to hear about the cost increases by FICO onto American consumers.”
FICO’s stock has responded with a sharp decline. Shares fell from a high of $2,209 on Monday to as low as $1,658 on Wednesday — a drop of roughly 25%.
A FICO spokesperson did not immediately respond to HousingWire’s request for comment.
Changes ahead
Pulte also confirmed that the FHFA will move forward with its plan to change the credit-score requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — from a tri-merge to a bi-merge credit score in underwriting models. The initiative, introduced under the prior FHFA leadership, is aimed at increasing competition and lowering costs.
In early 2024, FHFA announced that the transition was expected to begin in Q4 2025. In addition to shifting to a bi-merge system, the GSEs are preparing to adopt FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0, retiring the longstanding Classic FICO score. But implementation was delayed earlier this year.
“We’re actively looking at getting it done,” Pulte said during the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Secondary and Capital Markets Conference in New York on Monday.
Regarding FICO, he said the company “should make sure they’re being as economical as possible.”
“I don’t like some things I’ve heard in terms of the cost,” Pulte said. “I had the title lobby in as well and I said to them, ‘Look, I think you guys have got to be super smart. Americans are upset about what happened over the last four years.’”
Credit-score pricing has become a major concern among mortgage executives. Industry estimates suggest that credit reporting costs in 2025 will be at least 20% higher than in 2024, which also follows years of steady increases.
FICO has defended its pricing structure, noting that it represents only about 15% of the typical $80 to $100 cost of a tri-merge bundle. That report itself accounts for a small portion of total mortgage closing costs.
