MBA's President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, released the following statement on the annual price increases for credit reporting products:

“MBA remains deeply frustrated by the annual price hikes for tri-merge credit reports and other credit reporting products.

“Lenders are required by the government to obtain FICO scores and three credit reports to make most loans. It is troubling that these providers have the audacity to use their oligopoly powers to raise prices at many times the pace of inflation during this time of constrained housing affordability.

“While FICO and the credit reporting agencies are private companies free to set their prices as they wish, their flawed or mostly opaque reasoning for raising prices on a long-established product is unacceptable. Furthermore, justifying the price increases by focusing on total closing costs is not the right approach. Consumers lose, and lenders are left absorbing the cost for the majority of times they pull an applicant’s credit and a closed loan doesn’t result.

“When the government mandates the use of specific providers, those providers should act responsibly and with transparency. Consumers deserve a fair and transparent process, which is why we renew our call for federal housing regulators, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission, to examine the role the government’s requirements play in driving up these consumer credit transaction costs.”