US regulator says credit scoring firm FICO increasing prices for borrowers

WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – U.S. federal housing regulator Bill Pulte said on Wednesday credit scoring company FICO was unduly keeping consumer costs high, adding that his agency was studying changes to the use of credit reports to reduce the cost of borrowing.

The remarks on social media from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who briefly served as acting director of national intelligence over the summer, come less than eight weeks before midterm elections in which Republicans face public discontent over the cost of living.

“It seems that FICO is not interested in offering competitive costs but instead uses various means to increase price on the American people. So unnecessary,” Pulte said in a post on X.

FICO produces numerical credit scores that lenders use to assess would-be borrowers’ creditworthiness. Lower scores result in higher borrowing costs.

Representatives for FICO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Earlier this year, Pulte announced that housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now accepting additional credit scores using the VantageScore 4.0 model ​that take into account rent and utility payments, in a bid to boost access to affordable mortgages. 

In separate posts, Pulte also said that all securitized products such as mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie and Freddie would carry a VantageScore in addition to FICO scores.

Pulte likewise said his agency expected to meet this week with credit bureaus Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and said he was “studying using only a single credit report” as a means of lowering costs.

The three credit reporting agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Bhargav Acharya and Douglas Gillison; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Daniel Wallis)