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Your Mortgage Lender Now Picks Which Credit Score Sets Your Price

Since Oct. 1, 2026, Fannie and Freddie price VantageScore 4.0 and Classic FICO on one fee grid. What changed, and the score disclosure you're owed.

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Your Mortgage Lender Now Picks Which Credit Score Sets Your Price

If you’re shopping for a mortgage this fall, there’s a decent chance you have two different credit scores in play and don’t know which one the lender is using. As of October 1, 2026, that choice can change what your loan costs. You don’t get to pick. The lender does. But you do have a right to see the number it used, and that right is worth knowing about before you apply.

This post contains an affiliate link. I’ll always tell you the free option first.

What changed, in order

A lot of home loans get sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For decades, those two only took one kind of score: Classic FICO. Here’s how that moved in the last few weeks.

  • September 9, 2026. Fannie and Freddie opened VantageScore 4.0 to every approved lender, with no special sign-off needed. Before that it was a limited rollout. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which oversees both companies, confirmed the change on its credit score page.
  • September 28, 2026. FHFA Director Bill Pulte posted on X that the two companies were moving to “ONE PRICING GRID,” with VantageScore joining the existing Classic FICO grid.
  • September 30, 2026. Fannie and Freddie published the change. Freddie Mac’s bulletin put it plainly: credit fees “will no longer be differentiated based on the credit score model with which the mortgage is delivered.”
  • October 1, 2026. The new pricing applies to loans and mortgage-backed securities settled or issued on or after that date.

Why the “one grid” matters

Fannie and Freddie charge upfront fees called loan-level price adjustments, or LLPAs. Think of it as a price list. A lower score usually means a bigger fee, and those fees are part of what your loan costs you.

Until now, a VantageScore didn’t get read off the price list at face value. HousingWire reported that VantageScore 4.0 scores carried a 20-point downward adjustment, meant to offset differences between the two models. So a VantageScore of 720 was priced like a 700. The single grid removes that. A 720 is now priced as a 720.

That matters because the two models don’t always give you the same number. HousingWire noted that VantageScore 4.0 has tended to produce higher scores than Classic FICO for the same borrowers. Rocket Mortgage said it tested both models on 1.4 million credit reports, found VantageScore helped some additional borrowers qualify, and plans to make VantageScore its default for eligible loans.

Let me do some plain arithmetic, since nobody else will. LLPAs are a percentage of the loan amount. On a $300,000 loan, every quarter of a percentage point in fees is $750. If the score your lender uses lands you one step lower on the price list, that can show up in your rate or your closing costs. That’s an illustration, not a quote. Your fees depend on your score, your down payment and the rest of the file.

What did NOT change

A few things stayed put, and they matter more than the headlines.

  • The lender chooses, not you. FHFA lets lenders pick Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 loan by loan.
  • One model for everybody on the loan. If you’re buying with a spouse or partner, the lender has to use the same model for all borrowers on that loan.
  • All three bureaus still count. FHFA says the credit reporting requirements didn’t change. A lender that picks VantageScore 4.0 has to pull it from all three bureaus. An error on any one of your three reports can still drag down your price.
  • Some loans stay on FICO. Manually underwritten loans still require Classic FICO.
  • FICO 10T isn’t in yet. It’s approved, but FHFA says it isn’t eligible for delivery yet.

Who else pays

Not everybody is sure this works out cleanly. At HousingWire’s Mortgage Banking Summit on October 1, 2026, lenders and trade groups raised a fair question. If the investors who buy these loans decide they don’t trust VantageScore-priced loans as much, they may pay less for them. That cost could come back to borrowers through rates. An analyst at KBW called the change a “backdoor LLPA reduction.” Lower fees sound great. Whether investors agree will take time to show up.

I’m not going to tell you one score is better. Nobody can promise which one helps you, and results vary from file to file. What I can tell you is how to make sure the number, whichever one it is, comes from accurate reports.

What to do before you apply

1. Pull all three reports for free. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com. The bureaus offer free weekly reports there. Federal law, 15 U.S.C. § 1681j(a), guarantees at least one free report from each bureau every 12 months.

2. Dispute errors early. Under § 1681i(a)(1), a bureau generally has 30 days to investigate your dispute, and up to 15 more if you send new information during that window. Give yourself at least two months before you apply. Dispute what’s wrong, not what’s accurate. I lay out the steps in how to dispute credit report errors.

3. Ask each lender which score it uses. You can’t make a lender switch models, but you can shop lenders. Ask what model it plans to use on your loan and whether it’s Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0.

4. Get the score it actually used. This is the free right most people miss. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681g(g), a mortgage lender that uses your credit score has to give you a copy of the score, the range, up to four key factors that hurt it, the date, and who made it, “as soon as reasonably practicable.” It also has to give you a notice telling you to check your credit information for accuracy. If you don’t see it, ask for it by name.

If you want to watch all three reports: For daily alerts and your FICO scores from all three bureaus while you dispute, the service I point people to is IDIQ’s 3-bureau monitoring. You don’t need it to dispute; the free reports work. It just saves you from checking by hand. Affiliate disclosure: that’s an affiliate link. If you sign up, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

What to watch out for

Expect ads that say they’ll “boost your VantageScore for your mortgage.” Nobody can honestly promise a score change, and paying someone to dispute accurate information is a waste of money. The bureaus investigate disputes for free.

Also watch the timing. If you’re close to closing and find an error, ask your lender about a rapid rescore before you pay anyone else to speed things up. I explained why in the rapid rescore fee scam.

If you’re stuck reading a lender’s score disclosure, bring it to our free community on Skool with your personal details blacked out.

This is education, not legal or financial advice.

Sources

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