The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), American Bankers Association, Housing Policy Council, and Structured Finance Association have issued a joint statement regarding the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) recent decision on credit scores.

They view FHFA Director Bill Pulte’s July 8 directive for the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) to adopt VantageScore 4.0 as a positive initial step toward a more efficient, transparent, and competitive credit scoring system that benefits a wider range of creditworthy Americans.

However, they acknowledge that transitioning to a competitive credit score market presents implementation challenges. The GSEs will need to provide crucial guidance to lenders, investors, and other market participants on how to incorporate new scores like VantageScore 4.0 and/or FICO 10T into loan pricing and eligibility, given that credit score standards are deeply integrated throughout the mortgage industry.

These organizations are committed to collaborating with the GSEs to quickly resolve these issues. They emphasize that strong and rapid cooperation between the GSEs and industry stakeholders is essential to achieve genuine competition in credit scoring and ultimately reduce costs for consumers. They look forward to working together.