Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just made VantageScore 4.0 available to every approved single-family lender, effective immediately.
Director of Federal Housing Bill Pulte shared the news on X, framing it as a direct shot at FICO’s market dominance.
Good News for American Homebuyers! Effective Today, in the interest of transparency, ALL Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS), ALL Credit Risk Transfers (CRT), and ANY Securitized Product issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now carry a VantageScore, in addition to a FICO score. One company cannot hold the market hostage. Americans and Investors and the market want change.
— Pulte (@pulte) September 9, 2026
We’re looking at what lenders can and can’t do under the new rules, why FHFA is pushing this now, and what real estate agents should watch for as the adoption spreads.
GSEs Open the Door to VantageScore 4.0 for All Lenders
Fannie’s Lender Letter LL-2026-06 and Freddie’s Bulletin 2026-H, both dated September 9, spell out the same basic rule. Lenders can choose Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 for eligible loans sold to either GSE, and they no longer need prior written approval to do it.
From Freddie’s own announcement:
“Effective immediately, all Sellers may now use VantageScore 4.0 when originating and selling eligible mortgages to the GSEs without prior written approval.”
One rule holds: if a lender picks VantageScore 4.0, every borrower on that loan gets scored the same way. Lenders can’t mix FICO and VantageScore across borrowers on a single file.
Manual underwrites stay on Classic FICO only, no exceptions.
Fannie’s Selling Guide hasn’t caught up. Only the Lender Letter and LLPA Matrix reflect the change.
Pricing changed, too. Both GSEs updated their credit fee grids, Fannie’s LLPA Matrix and Freddie’s Exhibit 19, with tiers built around each score model.
A VantageScore runs 20 points higher than the equivalent FICO score at every bracket. The top pricing tier sits at 780 and up for FICO, and 800 and up for VantageScore.
FICO Score 10T, the bureau’s newer model, remains ineligible for delivery to either GSE. Fannie’s letter says more guidance is coming once that changes.
Pulte’s Push to Break FICO’s Grip on the Market
Pulte extended the change past loan origination and into the secondary market. He announced on X that VantageScore will now ride along on the securities Fannie and Freddie issue, including mortgage-backed securities and credit risk transfers.
His September 9 X post announces the move as a break from FICO’s dominance, saying:
“…One company cannot hold the market hostage. Americans and Investors and the market want change.”
In a pinned follow-up post, Pulte tied the securities move back to credit data the GSEs hold in-house:
Fannie and Freddie also have internal credit scoring data. To have a safer and sounder market, and to increase transparency of the underwriting of our loans, we will be immediately including/attaching that Fannie and Freddie data inside MBS, CRT, and other securitized products.
— Pulte (@pulte) September 10, 2026
Pulte is putting the same pressure on FICO over pricing for its newer 10T model. He laid out his frustration on social media:
Just like I asked Vantage, I have asked FICO to provide competitive pricing to the market for their FICO 10T product. It seems that FICO is not interested in offering competitive costs but instead uses various means to increase price on the American people. So unnecessary.
— Pulte (@pulte) September 9, 2026
Pulte also floated a bigger change to how credit reports get pulled in the first place:
We have been meeting with various credit bureaus, and this week we will be meeting with all three credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, and are focused on lowering costs while also studying using only a single credit report and bi-merge credit reporting. Stay tuned.
— Pulte (@pulte) September 9, 2026
Keep in mind adoption is still in its early stages. An analysis by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) found VantageScore 4.0 loans made up 5.6% of GSE volume in August, up from prior months.
Almost all of that volume, about 99%, came from two lenders: Rocket Mortgage and UWM
- Rocket’s VantageScore share of its own GSE production rose to 30% in August, up from 17% in July
- UWM’s share rose to 25.3% in August, up from 19.8% the month before
Every other approved lender continues to pull little to no VantageScore volume.
KBW’s analysts summed up why adoption has stayed concentrated among a few lenders:
“Based on our conversations with companies in our coverage universe, we believe that VantageScore is currently being seen as a way to potentially broaden the mortgage market as opposed to a way to cut costs, so we believe most lenders are still pulling FICO scores for almost all loans (although loans are submitted with one score).”
This doesn’t change how buyers get approved today unless their lender has made the switch. Ask a buyer’s lender which score model they use, especially if that lender is Rocket or UWM. Those two are the ones pulling this score for a significant share of their loans right now.
What Agents Should Track From Here
FICO Score 10T’s eligibility remains an open question, and that’s the next real turn in this story. Fannie’s letter says more guidance is coming once FICO’s newer model clears for delivery to the GSEs.
Bi-merge credit reporting remains a conversation between Pulte and the three bureaus, nothing more. If it turns into policy, it would change credit reporting costs more than the VantageScore rollout on its own.
If a buyer’s lender hasn’t touched VantageScore 4.0, ask them when they plan to. The lenders who move first on this will shape how fast it spreads through the rest of the market.
