Fannie Mae

Equifax is facing fresh competitive pressure as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac move to include VantageScore in mortgage underwriting in 2026, with the Federal Housing Finance Agency directing the two government-sponsored enterprises to use a single pricing grid that applies to both VantageScore and FICO models. Major originators such as Rocket Mortgage are preparing to adopt the dual-score framework, reshaping demand for traditional mortgage credit reports. The shift could alter Equifax's mortgage fee mix and volumes, particularly if the FHFA leans into bi-merge or single-bureau files, which would pressure the volume of full three-bureau reports Equifax sells into that channel and tighten pricing. Equifax, a roughly $16.1b professional services group, would then need higher-margin areas such as The Work Number, government verification contracts and AI-driven productivity gains to carry more of the earnings load. The key markers ahead are how quickly lenders such as Rocket Mortgage shift actual pull volumes toward VantageScore and whether the FHFA finalises bi-merge or single-bureau rules that reduce report count per loan, with concrete disclosures from Equifax on mortgage segment volumes and pricing as the 2026 transition date approaches showing how much revenue mix is at stake.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is planning to instruct mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to require lenders to use credit data from two major credit reporting bureaus instead of three, according to a media report on Thursday. The new requirement could be unveiled by FHFA Director Bill Pulte as soon as Oct. 12, when he is scheduled to speak at a mortgage industry conference, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the plans. Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian Plc are the dominant credit reporting firms, and loans sold to Fannie and Freddie are currently required to include a tri-merge report combining data from all three companies. Shares in Fair Isaac, which creates tri-merge reports, dropped 7.0% in Thursday after-hours trading, while TransUnion slid 4.2% and Equifax slipped 3.7%. Last month, Pulte said he was considering a bi-merge requirement as part of the Trump administration's efforts to lower closing costs and make homeownership more affordable, and the new requirement is expected to take effect within one to three months of the announcement.

Shares of Fair Isaac Corporation tumbled 8% after-hours Monday after the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced structural changes to mortgage pricing that will introduce direct competition to FICO's longstanding credit scoring monopoly. FHFA Director Bill Pulte said on X that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will consolidate their separate pricing matrices into a single, unified grid that will incorporate VantageScore, a competing credit model created by the three major credit bureaus, alongside the traditional FICO Classic score. Pulte said the change was driven by feedback from lenders and consumers, calling the previous two-grid structure a system that makes zero sense. The unified grid lets VantageScore share the exact same pricing structure as FICO, so lenders will soon be able to use a borrower's VantageScore to determine Loan-Level Price Adjustment fees and secure conventional loan approval, bypassing FICO entirely. Investors reacted sharply because the loss of exclusivity threatens FICO's primary leverage over the industry, which it has used in recent years to aggressively raise the fees it charges lenders for credit pulls. The FHFA has not yet specified a timeline for when the unified pricing grid will go live.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are tightening their standards for acceptable condo financing, changes that take effect between now and early 2027 and could further complicate an already struggling condo market. The mortgage giants, which support about 70% of the mortgage market, eliminated "limited reviews" last month in favor of closer reviews for all but the smallest buildings, and starting in January they will require condo associations to allocate at least 15% of their assessment income toward reserves, up from 10% today. The changes are part of an ongoing effort to improve condo safety after the deadly collapse of an aging building in Surfside, Fla., in 2021, but they add a new roadblock to a market already seeing slumping prices, growing supply, and buyer skepticism toward special assessments and monthly fees. Nationally, condo prices have fallen 2% from peak prices a few years earlier, according to Zillow data, with far steeper drops in some markets: Punta Gorda, Fla., is down 35% from its September 2022 peak, Tampa has seen a 24% decline, the median condo in Austin, Texas, is down 28%, and prices in Denver and Raleigh have fallen more than 16%. Condo sales were down 2.7% in August compared to a year earlier, according to National Association of Realtors data, while single-family home sales saw a smaller 1.1% drop, and nationwide condo supply sits at 6.6 months versus a more balanced 4.7 months for single-family homes. Agents and lenders told Yahoo Finance that the key for buyers and sellers is to learn about the HOA and gather necessary paperwork as early as possible, with Realtor Justyn LeFebvre of Christie's International Real Estate in Austin noting that the biggest bottleneck is the HOAs themselves producing these studies.

Bill Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve all lenders to use the VantageScore credit scoring system, ending Fair Isaac Corp.'s long-standing monopoly in mortgage credit scoring. Pulte announced the decision on X, citing the successful initial rollout of VantageScore, which enabled 50 lenders to deliver loans. He also accused FICO of raising the per-person cost of a credit score by 1,800% since 2020. In response, FICO stated it supports a competitive environment based on performance and analytics, highlighting its Score 10T as its most predictive credit score. FICO stock fell 2.14% in pre-market trading on Friday. Pulte separately criticized Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the credit reporting agencies that own VantageScore, for overcharging Americans and hinted at considering bi-merge and stronger solutions. The directive follows a Senate investigation into FICO's pricing, and comes amid a housing market with record-low buyer activity and high mortgage rates.

Better Mortgage has partnered with Coinbase Prime to expand a new type of home loan that allows borrowers to use Bitcoin as collateral for their down payment without having to sell their coins. This initiative is part of a residential mortgage program supported by Fannie Mae and represents an industry first, enabling digital asset holders to access home loans without converting their liquidity into cash.

AD Mortgage has launched a new Public Policy Initiative to engage with policymakers on housing affordability and mortgage finance. As its first action, the wholesale lender submitted a policy letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency with market data and recommendations on upcoming changes to condominium project eligibility for loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The letter draws on proprietary lending data showing that more than 750 Florida condominium loans originated by AD Mortgage since 2021 used the Limited Review process, and 53% of its Florida conventional condominium originations in that period relied on Limited Review. The company also found that approximately 30% of manually reviewed condominium projects had reserve funding below the new 15% threshold under revised Enterprise guidelines. AD Mortgage plans to regularly engage with federal and state policymakers, publish research, and collaborate with industry organizations as part of the initiative.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have released expanded historical loan performance datasets for FICO Score 10T, a next-generation credit scoring model developed by Fair Isaac. The data covers real-world mortgage performance and is expected to help lenders test, validate, and potentially adopt the new scoring model over time. This development puts FICO Score 10T more squarely in focus for mortgage underwriting and securitization, with implications for risk models and consumer credit access.

Bill Ackman has voluntarily disclosed eight of the twelve stocks held in his newly launched $5 billion closed-end fund Pershing Square USA, revealing concentrated bets on Amazon, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Uber Technologies, Brookfield, Restaurant Brands International, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The fund, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 29, is the largest of its kind ever launched in the United States and charges a 2% annual management fee with no performance fee. Ackman has described Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta as underappreciated mega-caps, with the Microsoft stake valued at $2.09 billion at the end of the first quarter based on 5.65 million shares. He also trimmed Alphabet in favor of Microsoft, signaling a deliberate reallocation within large-cap tech. The fund's shares have traded roughly 17% below the $50 IPO price, with a persistent discount to net asset value of about 20%, which Ackman called an extremely attractive bargain.