On September 4, 2026, FHFA Director Bill Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept VantageScore 4.0 from every approved mortgage lender, effective immediately. Five days later, on September 9, both Enterprises formally removed the prior-approval requirement that had limited the newer score to a small pilot group of lenders since the spring. Between May 1 and August 31, 2026, VantageScore 4.0 had already been used to securitize roughly 9% of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans; now any lender selling loans to the GSEs can pull it.
If you're planning to buy a home or refinance in the next year, this matters more than it might sound. Two borrowers with identical credit files can land 10 to 30 points apart depending on which scoring model their lender uses, and which collections, balances, or thin credit files count toward that number now depends on a coin flip your loan officer makes, not you. Here's what actually changed, how the two models treat your credit differently, and exactly what to do in the weeks before you apply.
What the September Rollout Actually Changed
For about two decades, the tri-merge rule required lenders selling to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to pull Classic FICO scores from all three credit bureaus. That requirement itself hasn't disappeared, but which score model satisfies it has widened. VantageScore 4.0 became available to a limited group of approved lenders back in April 2026. The September directive removed the "approved" part of that sentence — any lender in good standing with the GSEs can now use VantageScore 4.0 on eligible loans without applying for special permission first.
FICO Score 10T, the trended-data successor to Classic FICO, is still on a separate and slower track. The Enterprises have said they expect to publish historical FICO 10T data for loans acquired between April 2013 and September 2025 sometime in the summer of 2026, and more than 70 lenders had already committed to adopting it as of late July. But as of this rollout, FICO 10T itself is not yet eligible for GSE loan delivery the way VantageScore 4.0 now is. In practice, that means most borrowers shopping for a mortgage this fall could have their file scored under Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0, depending entirely on which lender they walk into.
An independent analysis from Deep Future Analytics estimated the VantageScore 4.0 approval could save the mortgage market more than $930 million in its first year, largely by qualifying borrowers who were previously scored down or shut out under older models. That's the industry-level story. The borrower-level story is simpler: your number might be different than the one you're used to checking, and it's worth knowing why before you sit down with a lender.
Classic FICO vs. FICO 10T vs. VantageScore 4.0: Where Mortgages Stand Now
| Factor | Classic FICO | FICO 10T | VantageScore 4.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSE mortgage eligibility (as of Sept. 2026) | Yes, all lenders | Not yet — pending historical data rollout | Yes, all approved lenders |
| Uses trended (24-month) balance history | No | Yes | Yes |
| Paid medical collections | Generally excluded | Excluded | Excluded, regardless of balance |
| Unpaid medical collections under $500 | Excluded | Excluded | Excluded entirely, any balance, if unpaid but reported |
| Small non-medical collections | Ignores original balances under $100 | Similar treatment | Different weighting, not a flat dollar cutoff |
| Buy Now, Pay Later data | No | Only in the separate FICO 10T BNPL variant | Considered where reported, via VantageScore's alternative-data models |
| Data volume behind the model | Baseline | Expanded vs. Classic FICO | Roughly 400% more data than legacy scores, per VantageScore |
How VantageScore 4.0 Could Change Your Number
The single biggest driver of the gap between models is trended data. Classic FICO looks at your balances as a snapshot on the day it's pulled. VantageScore 4.0, like FICO 10T, looks back up to 24 months and pays attention to direction. Two people with a $6,000 balance on a $10,000 limit look identical to Classic FICO. Under VantageScore 4.0, the person who was carrying $9,000 four months ago and has been paying it down looks meaningfully better than the person whose balance has been climbing toward that same $6,000.
Medical debt is the other big lever. VantageScore 4.0 excludes paid medical collections outright and excludes unpaid medical collections regardless of the dollar amount, as long as they're reported as medical. Classic FICO also disregards paid collections and collections with an original balance under $100, but that's a much narrower carve-out than "any unpaid medical collection, any size." If a chunk of your credit report is old medical debt, this is the change most likely to move your score in a meaningful way.
None of this means VantageScore 4.0 is simply "easier." Because it weighs recent trends so heavily, someone who just ran up a balance for a large purchase — even one they plan to pay off next month — may see a temporary dip they wouldn't see under Classic FICO. The model rewards a documented pattern of paying down debt more than it rewards a single low balance on the day someone checks.
How to Check Where You Stand Right Now
- Pull your free annual credit reports. Go to annualcreditreport.com and request your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion reports. Look specifically for medical collections, their balances, and whether they're marked paid or unpaid.
- Check a VantageScore, not just a FICO. Many free tools, including Credit Karma and the credit monitoring built into several banking apps, display a VantageScore (often 3.0, sometimes 4.0). Compare it against a FICO score from a source like myFICO if you can access one, so you know roughly how far apart your two numbers sit.
- Look at your last four to six statements on revolving accounts. If your balances have been trending down for several months, that history is now working in your favor under either trended-data model. If they've been climbing, expect the newer models to reflect that more harshly than Classic FICO would.
- Flag any medical collections under $500 or already paid. These should already be excluded from your score under bureau policy, but errors happen. If one is still dragging down your file, that's worth disputing before you apply.
- Ask your loan officer directly which score they pull. This is the simplest step and the one most borrowers skip. Lenders are not required to disclose which model they use before you apply, so you have to ask.
Step-by-Step: Getting Mortgage-Ready in the Next 30 to 60 Days
- Order all three credit reports and read them line by line, not just the summary score. Note every open collection, its balance, and its status.
- Dispute confirmed errors immediately. Use each bureau's online dispute process and keep copies of anything you send. Under the FCRA, bureaus generally have 30 days to investigate.
- Pay down revolving balances at least two statement cycles before you apply, not the day before. Trended-data models reward a documented downward pattern, and one month of a low balance won't show that trend yet.
- Avoid opening new credit accounts or financing a car or furniture purchase in the months leading up to your mortgage application. New accounts and inquiries can pull down both trended and traditional scores, and they lower your average account age.
- Get quotes from at least two or three lenders rather than one, since which model they pull can meaningfully affect your quoted rate or whether you qualify at all under a given debt-to-income threshold.
- Keep old accounts open even if you rarely use them, since account age and available credit both factor into utilization calculations under every model.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Assuming your score is the same everywhere. A 680 on one model can translate to a meaningfully different number, and different loan terms, on another. Don't anchor to a single app's score when shopping for a mortgage.
- Closing old credit cards right before applying. This shortens your credit history and can spike your utilization ratio at the worst possible time.
- Paying off a big balance the week of your application and expecting an instant jump. Trended models look at months of history, not a single snapshot, so last-minute paydowns help less than early ones.
- Ignoring old medical collections because "they don't count anyway." Confirm they're actually excluded on your report rather than assuming the bureau policy was applied correctly.
- Skipping the question of which score a lender uses. A 15-second question to your loan officer can save you from an unpleasant surprise at underwriting.
If You're Outside the US: How Credit Scoring Compares Globally
Everything above is specific to the US mortgage system, where Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the FHFA effectively set the rules for what "prime" lending looks like. Readers in other Tier 1 markets won't see VantageScore or FICO 10T show up on a mortgage application, but the underlying lesson — that your number depends heavily on which model and which bureau data get used — holds everywhere.
In the United Kingdom, there's no FICO or VantageScore at all. Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion each run their own proprietary scoring scales (Experian's runs 0–999, Equifax's 0–1000, TransUnion's 0–710), and a lender may check one, two, or all three bureaus with no standardized "GSE-style" score in between. In Canada, Equifax and TransUnion both use FICO-based scores on a 300–900 scale, closer to the US system, though there's no equivalent of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac dictating which model lenders must use. Australia and New Zealand use scores from Equifax, illion, and Experian on a 0–1200 scale (0–1000 for Experian in Australia), and BNPL and utility payment data have been showing up in those files longer than they have in most US models. Wherever you live, the practical habits are the same: check more than one score source before a big application, know what's actually on your file, and pay attention to trend, not just balance, since more scoring systems worldwide are moving in that direction.