Mortgage lenders that sell loans to Fannie Mae no longer need written permission to use VantageScore 4.0, and as of October 1 the pricing for it sits in the same fee matrix as Classic FICO. That second step came in a September 30 update to a lender letter first issued September 9. The choice of score model still belongs to the lender, not the borrower.
What changed in the September 30 update?
Fannie Mae’s Lender Letter LL-2026-06 opened VantageScore 4.0 to all Fannie Mae-approved lenders on September 9. They may use it without prior written approval, on eligible loans that go through Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system, Desktop Underwriter. The September 30 update dealt with price.
Loan-level price adjustments are fees that Fannie Mae adds to a loan’s pricing based on features such as the borrower’s credit score. The update says the adjustment matrix now includes pricing guidance for loans using VantageScore 4.0, and that the separate VantageScore grids have been removed. The letter prints no dollar amounts.
The pricing applies to whole loans purchased on or after October 1, 2026, and to loans delivered into mortgage-backed securities with issue dates on or after that day. For a borrower, the practical question is whether the lender picks VantageScore 4.0 or Classic FICO. The lender decides. A lender may choose either model for an eligible loan, and a lender that is not ready can stay on Classic FICO.
Retirement deadlines, in your inbox: Miss an enrollment or claim deadline and the money can be gone. Join the Retirement Money Brief and we’ll send you our Bank, Debt & Protected-Benefit Checkup as a welcome gift.
Get the Brief + the bank checkup →
We may earn a commission from links on this page.
Which loans can use the new score, and which cannot?
Only loans run through Desktop Underwriter qualify, the eligible versions being the Equifax, Experian and TransUnion editions of VantageScore 4.0. The letter says manually underwritten loans must keep using Classic FICO alone, and must meet the minimum credit score requirements in the Selling Guide and the eligibility matrix. A borrower whose file is too unusual for the automated system therefore stays on the older model.
Lenders that choose VantageScore 4.0 must request it from each of the three credit repositories, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, when ordering a new credit report. Fannie Mae’s rules on unavailable scores, insufficient credit information and frozen credit still apply. Desktop Underwriter version 12.1 accepts credit reports using VantageScore 4.0 for all casefiles.
One model has to govern the whole loan. The letter says the same credit score model must be used for all borrowers on a single loan. The model used for underwriting and pricing has to be reflected accurately in the delivered loan data, and lenders must attach Special Feature Code 067 to any loan originated with VantageScore 4.0.
Why is FICO Score 10T still not on the menu?
Fannie Mae had added both newer models to its Selling Guide in the spring. Its April 22 announcement approved VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T as credit score models, but said VantageScore 4.0 was available through a limited rollout to approved lenders and FICO 10T would come at a later date. The September letter ended the limited rollout for VantageScore.
FICO Score 10T is not currently eligible for delivery, according to the letter, and Fannie Mae says it will provide guidance when it becomes available. The letter gives no date. Lenders who want to use the FICO product have nothing to switch on yet, and any lender that is not operationally ready for VantageScore 4.0 keeps using eligible Classic FICO models under the existing Selling Guide requirements.
The Selling Guide itself has not caught up. The letter says the guide will be updated later to reflect VantageScore 4.0 requirements. Until then the lender letter is the operating rule, and lenders with questions are told to contact their Fannie Mae account team.
Is Freddie Mac moving the same way?
A September 11 entry from the mortgage compliance firm TENA Companies says that Fannie Mae issued LL-2026-06 and Freddie Mac issued Guide Bulletin 2026-H at about the same time, expanding VantageScore 4.0 to all lenders. Freddie Mac’s own rules were not part of the Fannie Mae letter, so the two companies’ details can differ.
FHA is on a separate track. HUD’s Mortgagee Letter 2026-11, dated October 8, says FHA will accept VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2027. A borrower comparing a conventional loan sold to Fannie Mae with an FHA loan faces two different calendars for the same score models.
Fannie Mae’s letter does not say how many lenders have switched or whether borrowers will see higher or lower scores. It does not say that a borrower can ask for a VantageScore 4.0 file. What it does is remove the approval step and the separate price grid.
The paper trail is spelled out. The credit report has to be kept in the loan file under the Selling Guide, and the lender must deliver the representative credit score and other required credit data under existing loan delivery rules. All related score information must be retained. The existing Selling Guide rules for representative and loan-level credit scores still apply unless the letter says otherwise.
Which credit score will the lender pull?
A lender that picks VantageScore 4.0 has to pull it from all three credit repositories, so any account that is wrong or unfamiliar on one file can matter. The score a lender prices on is only as accurate as the file under it.
The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit includes the debt-validation steps for making a collector prove what it says is owed, plus a debt inventory, call log and deadline tracker. It also has a section on credit reports and medical debt.
Its debt-validation steps run in order, so a borrower can work through an unfamiliar account before the mortgage application, not during it.
Get the debt-validation steps in the Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit for an unfamiliar account →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 15 Steps to Stop the Scams That Took $7.7 Billion From Seniors
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
