Washington, D.C. – May 27, 2025 – The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) sent a letter to FHFA Director Pulte commending him for his recent remarks regarding the recent Fair Isaac price hikes, and asked FHFA to take additional steps to reform this market and save Americans more of their hard-earned dollars.
“CHLA commends FHFA Director Pulte for calling out excessive FICO credit score price hikes, ” said Scott Olson, Executive Director of CHLA. “Homebuyers thrive when competition is maximized and consumers have more choices. CHLA continues to weigh in on the need to curb excessive credit score price hikes, offering constructive suggestions to accomplish this goal.”
The CHLA letter to Director Pulte specifically suggests that FHFA should :
1. Call for no more mortgage credit score price hikes, as Fair Isaac has increased the cost of a credit pull by 700% in the last 30 months without losing any market share, a clear sign of its unmitigated monopoly pricing power;
2. Speed the adoption of VantageScore as a viable alternative to begin making this a more competitive marketplace; and
3. Direct Fannie Mae and Freddie to make & execute plans for new subsidiaries to measure credit-worthiness of borrowers–subsidiaries that, once viable, would be sold to the market to increase competition here.
The letter goes on to note that, “in a normal product marketplace, prices are set not by any individuals, but rather among an uncountable number of buyers and sellers. In the case of mortgage credit scores, the only individuals who have a vote today on the current price of this product are those sitting in the executive suite at Fair Isaac. They, and they alone, set the price based on whatever number appeals to them. No one else has a say.”
CHLA has been the industry leader in calling out FICO the last few years for their excessive credit score price hikes – including a CHLA White Paper on the subject last year https://www.communitylender.org/chla-white-paper-on-mortgage-credit-score-markets-and-pricing/ –
About Community Home Lenders of America
Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) is the only national non-profit association that exclusively focuses on small and mid-sized community-based mortgage lenders. The mission of the CHLA is to promote federal mortgage programs, rules, and regulations which treat community mortgage lenders fairly, and which reflect the critical importance that community mortgage lenders play in providing broad access to credit for borrowers, in increasing competition in mortgage markets, and in providing borrowers with quality mortgage services and access to loans at a local level. Learn more: https://www.communitylender.org/ or by following the organization’s LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/community-home-lenders-association-inc/.