Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
FICO said Fairway Home Mortgage, Movement Mortgage and Rate joined its Preferred Program on October 30. The enrollments are separate from FICO's earlier wholesale score-pricing announcement and do not constitute a new FHFA mortgage eligibility rule.
Three large mortgage lenders have enrolled in FICO’s Preferred Program, giving the credit-scoring company additional commitments as mortgage lenders evaluate competing models. Fairway Home Mortgage, Movement Mortgage and Rate will continue obtaining FICO scores across their lending operations, according to FICO’s October 30 announcement.
The enrollment matters because credit scores sit at the intersection of mortgage eligibility, risk pricing and lender operating expenses. FICO’s announcement confirms participation in a commercial program; it does not say the three lenders have abandoned other scoring models or changed their mortgage underwriting rules.
Movement began evaluating FICO Score 10T alongside Classic FICO scores in 2023, the company said. Rate described its continued use of FICO across conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo, non-QM and home-equity products. Fairway said it would continue assessing FICO scores across eligible programs. Each lender’s comments concern its own operations, not a uniform industry mandate.
Pricing and model choice
On October 23, FICO announced that it would hold its wholesale mortgage score price at $10 for lenders and brokers enrolled through participating tri-merge resellers. That price covers a bundle of Classic FICO and FICO Score 10T, according to the earlier pricing release. The announced amount is a wholesale program price, not necessarily the total credit-report fee charged to a borrower.
FICO Score 10T incorporates trended credit data and certain rental-payment information. Its adoption involves more than buying access to a score: lenders and investors must consider model validation, workflow changes, underwriting requirements and the comparability of risk measures. The release did not provide a rollout timetable for each participating lender.
The competition has implications for the government-sponsored enterprise channel. VantageScore 4.0 has been permitted for use in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lending, introducing another model into a market long dominated by Classic FICO. Permission to use an alternative model does not automatically mean every lender, investor or product has implemented it.
FICO cited demand for continuity and more predictive scores. Those are the vendor’s claims; the announcement included no independent head-to-head mortgage default study that would establish one model’s superiority across borrowers or market conditions.
For loan officers, the near-term takeaway is operational rather than a promised rate reduction. Participating lenders may gain predictable access to the two FICO versions under the program, but the actual borrower-facing costs and credit outcomes will depend on reseller arrangements, lender policy and loan program. WRE News recently examined CrossCountry Mortgage’s separate VantageScore-related findings, underscoring the need to compare specific lender claims carefully.
FICO has not disclosed the financial terms of the three enrollments beyond the previously announced program pricing.
Simple Content Summary
Fairway Home Mortgage, Movement Mortgage and Rate have enrolled in FICO’s Preferred Program. The lenders will continue using FICO scores, but the announcement does not establish borrower savings or require exclusive use of one scoring model.
