Credit scores

Fair Isaac Corp.'s shares saw their worst day since March 2020 on Wednesday, falling alongside credit bureau stocks after the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency questioned credit report pricing. 

Equifax Inc.'s first-quarter profit beat estimates, although the credit-reporting agency declined to raise its guidance, citing the tariff-induced uncertainty in the economy and falling consumer confidence.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley sent a letter urging the Justice Department to investigate FICO's price increases, which he said have "been borne by borrowers, especially lower-income borrowers."

The private market is increasingly testing credit metrics aimed at growing originations without adding risk as a larger effort to this end has slowed.

The removal of the fourth-quarter implementation date also impacts the planned addition of a bi-merge report option.

Without admitting wrongdoing, Equifax agreed to pay $725,000 because of a three-week error which lowered credit scores for 77,000 New Yorkers.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.

While the Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a credit score usage mandate, it has shown to be open to the use of advanced models.

Democrats Ritchie Torres and Gregory Meeks called on the New York Home Loan bank to follow the lead of its peers and use alternative credit scoring models for collateral to improve consumers' access to homeownership.

Loan data spanning nearly a decade can be matched with other statistics from the influential government-related mortgage buyers to assess performance.

The partnership between personal finance platform Esusu and the National Rental Home Council has several of the trade group's members delivering payment data. They say that has helped result in over 85,000 originations across lending segments.

Industry organizations indicated they want to be ready to analyze an advanced credit metric in early 3Q in line with FHFA plans, but they see some roadblocks.

Ohio-based Liberty Home Mortgage joins several companies who started using a more modernized FICO credit score for nonconforming mortgage originations recently.

Mortgages that homebuyers locked in March rose 17% even with FICOs at record high for Optimal Blue's dataset, suggesting there are many qualified borrowers.

State restrictions on the use of credit scores appear to help a wide range of consumers cut homeowner insurance costs to varying degrees, according to Matic.

The changes made to the schedule of bringing advanced credit metrics to major mortgage investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac affect bi-merged reports and Vantagescore 4.0's implementation.

Cardinal Financial's utilization of the FICO alternative credit metric could help pave the way for broader use as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move to adopt it.

One depository has now joined two nonbanks in publicly announcing they're using the advanced score ahead of planned broader implementation by the agency market.

Institutions obtaining financing from the FHLB that's secured by their mortgages can now use the advanced score to underwrite collateral loans.

The guidance also underscores consumer rights to obtain access to their own information as well as identities of sources providing data.