Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), voiced his support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to incorporate VantageScore 4.0 “as soon as possible” for credit scoring.

In addition to using the Classic FICO model, he also said the industry should work with the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to incorporate FICO 10T in the future.

The comments were made Friday on his “To the Point with Bob” blog on the MBA website, where he credits Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte with leading the charge on credit score modernization at the GSEs.

Stating that making the transition will take a collaborative approach, Broeksmit discussed how the FHFA and GSEs have hit the ground running with what he called “excellent industry involvement.”

The MBA has been deeply involved with the meetings since the announcement, Broeksmit said. Within days of Pulte’s July 8 directive to the GSEs to accept VantageScore 4.0, the MBA was able to raise key questions and concerns to FHFA and GSE staff. 

“We are encouraged by this progress and are eager to move quickly to bring the benefits of new scoring models and increased credit score competition to borrowers.”

He said that after the initial meetings, the MBA has led industry discussions on developing business rules to implement the change safely, quickly and effectively.

“The work should not stop there,” Broeksmit stated. “If we’re introducing more competition in credit scores, it makes sense to do the same with credit reporting.”

“Voices are growing louder on the need to move away from the outdated government requirement of a tri-merge credit report,” he wrote. “Requiring lenders to pull three credit reports to originate GSE or government loans simply does not make sense in today’s modern mortgage market.”