HousingWire, citing Bloomberg, reported that FHFA plans within weeks to direct Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept "bi-merge" credit reports drawn from two of the three bureaus instead of the current tri-merge requirement, with an announcement possible at the Mortgage Bankers Association conference in Chicago on Oct. 12 and an effective date one to three months later. FHFA did not respond to HousingWire's request for comment. The report followed Director Bill Pulte's Sept. 29 move to a single pricing grid treating VantageScore 4.0 as equivalent to Classic FICO, reversing earlier GSE grids that had assumed VantageScore overstated creditworthiness by about 20 points.
A bi-merge option was proposed under FHFA Director Sandra Thompson during the Biden administration and delayed over implementation challenges.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte announced on X on September 28 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would move to a single loan-level price adjustment grid for mortgages scored with either Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0, removing the 20-point downward adjustment that had applied to VantageScore under the early-September framework. Rocket Mortgage said the same day it would make VantageScore 4.0 its preferred model for eligible loans, reporting average savings of $1,600 at closing for borrowers who benefited. FICO’s stock fell more than 26% by 4 p.m. ET on September 29.
Classic FICO is still required for manually underwritten loans; FHA plans to begin underwriting with FICO 10T in January 2027.