FICO shifts blame for rising credit score pull costs to Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion
Days after the announcement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would allow the use of VantageScore 4.0 for mortgage credit decisions, FICO has fired back, calling the credit score owned by the three major credit bureaus “a de facto monopoly.”
One of the major changes announced by Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) chair Bill Pulte in recent weeks was that the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) would accept VantageScore 4.0.
VantageScore is owned by the three major US credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. These credit bureaus also deliver the FICO score to the tri-merge.
Julie May, vice president and general manager of B2B scores at FICO, said they are concerned that the introduction of VantageScore now puts the entire credit decision process into the hands of the three credit bureaus.
“It’s handing complete pricing power to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion,” May told Mortgage Professional America. “They own VantageScore. It’s a de facto monopoly. If anyone thinks they’re going to lower pricing in the long term, it’s just mistaken. They’re going to have all the power.
“And they’re effectively going to be able to control, not just VantageScore and the credit report pricing, but they’re going to be able to actually control FICO score and squeeze us out of the market. There will eventually be no choice in this market because they act as a de facto monopoly.”
Credit pull pricing concerns
May and FICO have heard the complaints made by many in the mortgage industry about the rising costs of credit report pulls. However, they believe the ire for the rise in credit report costs should be directed at the three bureaus.
“We are transparent about what we price, and nobody else in the ecosystem is,” May said. “We charge $4.95 as a royalty fee for the FICO score. And that’s where the transparency starts and ends in terms of the approximately $120 credit report costs. If it’s a tri-merge, of that $120, we’re $14.85. So the vast majority, 85% of that cost, is not coming to FICO.”
She challenged the credit bureaus to disclose the rest of the costs involved in pulling credit for a mortgage.
“So what I would say to the owners of the VantageScore, which happens to be the three credit bureaus who distribute the FICO score, tell them how much you’re making on a FICO score,” she said. “Tell them how much you’re charging for your credit report. Tell them how much the others in the ecosystem who are delivering the report are charging.
“And then let’s have full transparency for the end user on who they’re paying what associated with the ecosystem. I think people would be very surprised by what they see.”
Pulte posts about FICO
Pulte made several posts on X on Thursday regarding credit scores. He also referenced a supposed upcoming article in the Wall Street Journal, which he terms a “hit piece.”
“We will not be intimidated by hit pieces like this, with unnamed ‘sources’, that are designed to help big monopolies like FICO and their lobbyists, and continue the ripping off of Americans, which has gone on for decades,” Pulte posted on X, as a quote given to the WSJ.
He also said on X, “FICO, and any other monopoly who has ripped off Americans for decades, should not be using improper efforts to threaten regulators.”
Later, he posted screenshots of side-by-side reporting from both VantageScore and FICO, touting each company’s scoring system. In the accompanying post, he was pleased with the competition between the two scoring systems, calling it “just the start of competition in credit scores, for the benefit of the American people.”
Glad to see Vantage Score and FICO competing with competing studies - great!
— Pulte (@pulte) July 17, 2025
This is just the *start* of competition in Credit Scores, for the benefit of the American people. pic.twitter.com/ScXQo5Aeo4
May noted that as long as one of the credit score options is owned by the credit bureaus, there won’t be true competition for the end customer.
“Frankly, there can be zero meaningful competition in the conforming mortgage market until the credit bureaus divest their ownership in VantageScore,” she said. “Or, a tri-merge mandate does not accompany the FICO score thing. It does not accompany the choice to add VantageScore.”
According to VantageScore, approximately 33 million borrowers could be scored using its system that would not have a FICO score, as it only requires one month of credit history compared to the six months required by FICO. With VantageScore 4.0, more than 12 million of the approximately 33 million new scores are above 620.
However, FICO believes that its model, which requires a longer credit history, results in a more accurate picture of the borrower's delinquency risk.
May believes that the addition of VantageScore will increase risk in the mortgage market and could lead to more delinquencies.
“The VantageScore 4.0 is not consumer-friendly because of the mortgage variables, because they actually score people who don’t have the right history,” May said. “It’s going to increase risk in the marketplace. It sounds healthy for the market, but it’s not because it will be a race to the bottom. Lenders will be incentivized to overwhelmingly choose whatever can get them to approval. That will increase risk in the mortgage market.
“It’s grossly irresponsible because it will create risk in a market we’ve seen the result of in the 2008 financial crisis. I don’t think we want to go back there.”
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