The change
The Federal Housing Finance Agency recorded on September 9, 2026 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had expanded use of VantageScore 4.0 to all approved lenders, removing a requirement that lenders obtain prior written approval before using it.
The change follows an earlier limited rollout. FICO Score 10T remained ineligible for delivery to the Enterprises as of that date. Lenders may continue using Classic FICO under the terms of the Selling Guide.
Separately, on July 1, 2026 the Enterprises published historical credit score data for the first time: FICO 10T scores on loans acquired between April 2013 and September 2025, and an expanded VantageScore 4.0 series covering loans acquired between April 2023 and September 2025.
Why the written-approval requirement mattered
A permission requirement is a soft prohibition. A lender contemplating a change to its credit policy must weigh the operational cost of a second scoring model — new underwriting rules, new investor documentation, retrained staff, systems work — against uncertain benefit. Adding a discretionary approval step to that calculation is enough for most lenders to defer indefinitely.
Removing it does not compel anyone to use VantageScore 4.0. It converts the decision from a regulatory question into a business one.
Analysis: the practical significance turns on whether lenders actually switch, and on pricing. The model differs from Classic FICO principally in its treatment of trended data and of consumers with thin or unconventional credit files — which is where the potential expansion of eligible borrowers lies, and also where the least historical performance evidence exists.
The historical data release is the substantive enabler
The July publication of historical score data on Enterprise-acquired loans is arguably more consequential than the September permission change, because it addresses the reason lenders and investors hesitate.
Without loan-level performance history under a scoring model, a lender cannot calibrate its own overlays, and an investor cannot price the resulting securities. A FICO 10T series running from April 2013 covers more than a decade including a full stress period; the VantageScore 4.0 series from April 2023 covers considerably less.
That asymmetry in data length is worth keeping in view. The model now approved for unrestricted use has the shorter published history of the two.
The legal framework, and what has changed
The credit score changes operate under section 310 of the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act and FHFA's Validation and Approval of Credit Score Models Rule at 12 CFR Part 1254, which established the process by which the Enterprises may adopt scoring models other than Classic FICO.
That framework has been in place for years; what moved in September was implementation. The sequence — validation, a capped pilot limited to 50 lenders beginning May 1, 2026, historical data publication in July, and unrestricted use from September 9 — is the process working through its stages rather than a new policy.
The order came from the director personally
FHFA Director Bill Pulte announced the change on social media on September 4, 2026, stating that the initial pilot had drawn 50 lenders delivering loans and instructing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to approve all lenders effective immediately. He also said FHFA was "seriously considering" a bi-merge credit report — pulling from two credit bureaus rather than the traditional three — and studying a single-bureau option, criticising Equifax, Experian and TransUnion over pricing.
As of August 31, 2026, before the full expansion, VantageScore 4.0 had already been used in more than 9 percent of mortgages securitised by the two enterprises since the May 1 pilot began, according to FHFA's own figures cited in trade press coverage. Rocket Mortgage, the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Department of Veterans Affairs had each adopted the model ahead of the broader directive.
Analysis: a director's social-media announcement is not, by itself, a rulemaking, but the FHFA's own policy page confirms the substance of the change and its effective date, and multiple trade outlets independently reported the same directive and the same 50-lender pilot figure.