Bipartisan Lawmakers Cite “Real Human Cost” of Delay
On Monday, Members of the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director supporting the agency’s decision to mandate VantageScore for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages and encouraging the Director to stay the course and require full implementation no later than 2025.
Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Zach Nunn (R-IA), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), and Young Kim (R-CA), the U.S. Representatives who authored the letter to FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, all sit on the House Financial Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FHFA.
“Homeownership is a foundational pillar of the American Dream and Congress expects the Agency, the Enterprises, and all mortgage market stakeholders to move with urgency to comply with the Credit Scoring Competition Act of 2018,” read the letter.
“On August 16, 2019, the FHA issued its final rule dictating how the Agency would go about validating credit scoring models for use by the GSEs,” the Congressional members argue. “The Agency announced the validation of new credit scores for use by the GSEs on October 24, 2022. FHFA then issued its timeline for credit scoring modernization on March 23, 2023, calling for full implementation by Q4 of 2025 – a full seven and a half years after Congress and the President implemented the law, which is more than enough time for the mortgage market to comply with the regulation.”
The members of Congress who signed the above represent a diverse group of voters, including districts in the states of California, Texas, Colorado, and Iowa, including large rural, Asian American, and Hispanic American districts.
“Our constituents that are awaiting an opportunity to purchase a home can accept no further delay in the implementation of new credit scores in the mortgage market. Every day of delay in this process is another day that working people who pay their bills on time are unable to get a mortgage, finance a higher education, or take out a small business loan – that’s a real human cost.”
View the letter: Congressional Coalition Letter to FHFA on New Scoring Models