Private mortgage market use of Vantagescore surged in the past year while direct government-related utilization has dwindled due to the end of a testing period for an initiative in 2023.
Use in the industry was up 166% in 2024, according to a report the score provider issued with Charles River Associates, which noted the increase in private utilization by individual originators was more than offset by the unspecified decline in public sector-linked use of large datasets.
"What we did see is significant growth in the use of this outside of those batch pulls," said Anthony Hutchinson, executive vice president and head of public affairs at Vantagescore.
Whether this continues remains to be seen. Private activity was driven by catalysts such as the authorization of Vantagescore 4.0 use for collateral at some
Just prior to President Trump's inauguration, an oversight agency changed a 2025 implementation date for Fannie and Freddie's adoption
Fannie and Freddie hadn't made any apparent, subsequent updates to the plans for the legislatively mandated credit modernization at deadline. Hutchinson said the signals he's gotten to date suggest all government-sponsored enterprises remain interested in score use.
"On the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac side we still see them initiating this 4Q 2025," he said.
Hutchinson said conversations Vantagescore officials have had with FHFA employees suggest "they're going to be able to give definitive answers about what the industry needs in short order, and that they are going to implement as the initial timeline."
He declined to address an aspect of the planned implementation outside the legislative mandate that would potentially allow a less-expensive
That option, aimed at reducing or helping offset what have been
Some studies like Standard & Poor's have found that
But others, such as
Metrics from Vantagescore have not traditionally been used in the mortgage market, which instead has used an older FICO credit measure.
Under plans that have been in place for score modernization in the mortgage industry, an advanced FICO measure also would be adopted. FICO also has reported more private mortgage market use recently.
Other industries work with Vantagescore more consistently than the mortgage market does.
Adoption of Vantagescore by private mortgage companies in the past year outpaced an average 55% increase across industries, a 142% surge in credit cards, and 104% across financial services.
Credit card issuers accounted for 58.5% of Vantagescore users in 2024. Mortgage users represented just 1.2% of Vantagescore's market last year.
