MBA's President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, released the following statement on the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) announcement today on credit score modernization:

“MBA has long advocated for greater competition in the credit reporting and scoring space. Today’s announcement marks an important next step in modernizing the credit scoring framework used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

“MBA applauds FHFA Director William Pulte’s work to move this process forward and HUD Secretary Scott Turner’s indications that FHA will follow suit. Expanding the set of acceptable credit scoring models to include VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T will help foster a more transparent and dynamic market, broaden access to sustainable credit, and put downward pressure on costs for GSE and FHA borrowers. Because both models have already been tested and validated, we look forward to a speedy expansion of the program to all lenders and for all loans, and to implementing FICO 10T to ensure the benefits of competition are extended market-wide.

“Successful implementation for all lenders will require continued clarity and coordination across the housing finance ecosystem. Lenders, investors, and other stakeholders are ready to adopt the new credit scoring models as quickly as possible and look forward to reviewing the additional guidance that will enable safe, sound, and efficient implementation.

“MBA will also continue to press for reforms of the tri-merge credit reporting requirement, including implementing a single-score requirement for GSE borrowers with strong credit profiles, to encourage greater competition and lower costs for consumers.”