Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte on Monday escalated his war on what he calls “abusive monopolies” in the mortgage sector, vowing that consumers will no longer be exploited by dominant players.
“Abusive monopolies will not be allowed to take advantage of consumers anywhere in the mortgage market,” Pulte wrote on X, signaling a continued crackdown on entrenched interests as housing costs remain elevated.
The statement follows his earlier push to break FICO’s stranglehold on credit scoring. Last month, Pulte announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would adopt the VantageScore credit index alongside the traditional FICO Classic Score, a shift that could reshape how lenders price mortgages for millions of borrowers.
“We are Simplifying Mortgage Pricing following feedback from lenders and consumers,” Pulte wrote in September. “Instead of two separate pricing grids, which makes zero sense, Fannie and Freddie are hereby moving to ONE PRICING GRID with VantageScore joining the existing FICO Classic pricing grid.”
The move builds on an April directive from Pulte, whose agency regulates the government-sponsored enterprises, instructing them to update their selling guides to incorporate both VantageScore and FICO Score 10T. It is a direct challenge to FICO, which has dominated the market for decades.
“Since 2020, FICO has increased the price per a person’s credit score by 1,800%. FICO has enjoyed a monopoly. No more,” he wrote on X in early September, as mortgage rates hovered above 7%.
The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dipped to 7.32% last week from 7.4%, according to Freddie Mac, though rates remain high amid rising bond yields and oil prices tied to the Iran conflict. The administration has been under pressure to ease housing affordability ahead of the midterms, with Republicans facing economic headwinds at the ballot box.
President Trump on Thursday directed Pulte to launch a pilot program that would cancel insurance premiums on government-backed mortgages once borrowers meet equity requirements. The Treasury Department also moved to bar Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes, part of a bipartisan housing law passed in June.
Critics argue that breaking FICO’s monopoly could introduce new risks, but Pulte insists the change will benefit consumers. “This is about fairness,” he said. “Lenders and borrowers deserve options, not a system rigged by one company.”
As the FHFA pushes forward, the mortgage industry is bracing for a seismic shift in how creditworthiness is assessed, with potential ripple effects for homebuyers and refinancers alike.
