The Federal Housing Finance Agency today announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are making historical VantageScore 4.0 credit scores available to approved users to support the transition to updated credit score and credit report requirements.
FHFA announced two years ago it would replace the FICO credit score model used by Fannie and Freddie with the FICO 10T and the VantageScore 4.0 credit score models and that the enterprises would transition from a tri-merge requirement, in which credit reports are required from all three nationwide consumer reporting agencies, to a bi-merge requirement. The historical credit scores for Fannie and Freddie are associated with single-family loans purchased by the enterprises from April 2013 through March 2023, according to the agency. “The use of these modernized credit score models will enhance risk management while furthering sustainable access to credit for consumers,” FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said.
The release of the Vantage data by the enterprises includes tri-merge and bi-merge calculations, and are provided to match with the enterprises’ existing MBS disclosures and CRT and single-family historical loan level datasets. Access and how to use to the data sets can be found on the Fannie and Freddie websites. Although still uncertain, the release of FICO 10T data is expected at a later date.
The American Bankers Associations and four associations in May requested that these additional data elements be made available so that banks and financial institutions could begin the necessary analysis to transition to the new credit score models. Specifically, the associations said the use of models calibrated to only the post-financial crisis period likely would not meet prudential regulatory standards or internal requirements for model validation. “Our members continue to believe that it is imperative to have credit reporting data ‘through the cycle’ back to 2003 given the sensitivity of mortgage default and prepayment to origination credit scores,” they said.
