In a series of social media posts Thursday evening, Bill Pulte said he was instructing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to immediately approve all lenders to use the VantageScore 4.0 credit scoring system.
Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He also serves as chairman of both companies.
“Fannie and Freddie’s initial rollout of VantageScore has been incredibly successful, with 50 LENDERS DELIVERING LOANS. So, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, I’m instructing Fannie and Freddie to approve ALL lenders to use VantageScore,” Pulte wrote on X.
Shortly afterward, Pulte responded to a post that asked, “Do we need 3 credit bureaus? Also, thoughts on replacing the entire system?”
“Stay tuned,” Pulte replied.
In a post he later pinned, Pulte wrote: “Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion have been overcharging Americans for far too long. This will end soon. We are seriously considering bi-merge, and stronger solutions (SAFER and SOUNDER). We will not allow companies to take advantage of American consumers. No more.”
Pulte then responded to his own post: “We have asked the CEOs of the Credit Bureaus for solutions but they seem more intent on ‘happy talk’, tapping us along with meetings, and operating as ‘cartel-like’, which is not in the best interest of American homeowners. Time for a change.”
Bi-merge backstory
Pulte gave his initial blessing to VantageScore as an alternative to the mainstay Classic FICO credit scoring model in July 2025. In April of this year, he announced at a press conference that VantageScore 4.0 credit scores would be eligible for delivery to Fannie and Freddie through “a limited rollout with approved lenders.”
Like Classic FICO, VantageScore 4.0 is a “tri-merge” credit scoring model, meaning it pulls data from the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — and combines them into a single report. According to its website, it also uses “machine learning to look closer into the credit histories of consumers often overlooked by lenders due to a lack of credit history.”
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Potentially more significant than Thursday’s VantageScore announcement is Pulte’s suggestion that the FHFA is considering green-lighting a bi-merge scoring model.
Pulte’s predecessor as FHFA director, Sandra L. Thompson, had announced plans to shift to a bi-merge model that would use VantageScore 4.0 and a newer FICO model called 10T to pull data from two different credit bureaus. Those plans were put on indefinite hold in January 2025, just prior to Pulte taking office in March.
In a July 2025 interview with Scotsman Guide, Pulte said the FHFA was “pausing [bi-merge] for the interim, keeping tri-merge just to make things as easy as possible for everybody.”
Other industry trade groups, most notably the Mortgage Bankers Association, have pushed for a single-file framework that would allow lenders to use data from just one credit bureau for borrowers with an initial credit pull above 700.
In July of this year, Fannie and Freddie released FICO 10T historical data, widely seen as a procedural move for that scoring model’s eventual full adoption.
It was unclear from Pulte’s social media messages on Thursday how FICO 10T could potentially fit into a bi-merge proposal. The FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Emails sent by Scotsman Guide to Equifax, Experian, TransUnion and the Consumer Data Industry Association — a trade group whose members include the three major credit bureaus — had not received responses by press time.
In an emailed statement to Scotsman Guide, a VantageScore spokesperson applauded Pulte for his “decisive action and consistent support for mortgage credit score competition and the significant cost savings and innovation this delivers for American consumers and mortgage lenders.”
The VantageScore representative added that its model has “already captured more than 9% of mortgage securitizations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since FHFA allowed a limited number of mortgage lenders to use VantageScore 4.0 on May 1, 2026.”
