Which credit score do mortgage lenders use in 2026?
Written by Marcelo Fernández, Founder of Loosn
In short
Classic FICO is still the standard for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On April 22, 2026 the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that a limited set of approved lenders may also use VantageScore 4.0, with FICO 10T to follow, and HUD said the Federal Housing Administration will accept both. The tri-merge requirement — a report from all three bureaus — stays in place.
Which scoring model a lender runs changes how your file is read. It does not change what is in your file, and it does not change your rights over what is in it. This page separates the two, with a link to each source at the foot. General information about the credit reporting system, not legal or financial advice about your situation.
What did FHFA and HUD announce in April 2026?
On April 22, 2026 the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would update their selling policies so that a limited number of approved lenders can use VantageScore 4.0. The same announcement provided for future use of FICO 10T, with historical FICO 10T scores for previously acquired loans to be published in summer 2026 so lenders and investors have a track record to price against.
HUD announced the same day that the Federal Housing Administration will permit VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T for FHA-insured underwriting.
Two things did not change. Classic FICO remains available, and the tri-merge requirement — a credit report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — remains in place.
What is different about VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T?
Both are newer models built on the same underlying credit reports, so they read the same data with different rules.
VantageScore publishes that its 4.0 model leaves paid collections out of the calculation entirely, and treats medical collections differently from other collections. FICO describes 10T as using trended data — the pattern of your balances and payments across many months, rather than a single month's snapshot — so a balance that climbs while only the minimum is paid reads differently than a flat balance.
Neither model invents information. Both read the tradelines your furnishers report to the bureaus, which is the file a dispute acts on.
| Model | Accepted for mortgages | What distinguishes it | Cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic FICO | Yes — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA | The long-standing standard, with a separate version per bureau | In use before 2026 |
| VantageScore 4.0 | Yes — a limited set of approved lenders | Its publisher states that paid collections are left out of the calculation entirely, and that medical collections are treated differently from other collections | April 22, 2026 |
| FICO 10T | Yes — future use; historical scores published summer 2026 | Uses trended data: the pattern of balances and payments across many months, rather than one month's snapshot | April 22, 2026 |
Does the new model change what is worth disputing?
No, and this is the part that gets lost.
A scoring model is a formula applied to your credit file. The FCRA governs the file, not the formula. Under Section 611 you can dispute information you believe is inaccurate or incomplete regardless of which model a lender later runs, and the bureau's obligation to investigate is identical either way.
So the checkable facts stay the same whichever model is used: whether the account is yours, whether the balance is right, whether the date of first delinquency is right, whether the same debt appears twice. Choosing what to dispute based on a guess about how one model weighs it would be optimising for a formula that the lender might not even run.
Which score will a lender actually pull for you?
That depends on the lender and the loan. The FHFA rollout began with a limited set of approved lenders rather than the whole market, so many mortgage originations continue on Classic FICO. An FHA loan may use Classic FICO, VantageScore 4.0 or FICO 10T at the lender's option under the HUD announcement.
The practical step is to ask the loan officer which model and which bureaus they pull before you apply, and to read your own three reports first. A free copy of each is available at AnnualCreditReport.com — how often, and where the entitlement comes from.
Where does Loosn fit in a mortgage timeline?
Loosn AI reads the report you upload, flags what may be inaccurate, and drafts FCRA-cited dispute letters for you to review and send in your own name. It works on the file, which is the input every model shares.
The FCRA gives a bureau 30 days from receipt to investigate a dispute, extendable to 45 days if you send additional information during the investigation. That statutory window is the one fixed quantity in the timing, and it is worth knowing before a mortgage application, not during one. No outcome is promised, and you can run this process yourself, free of charge, with or without Loosn.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I now have a VantageScore 4.0 I can look up?
- You have a score under any model a provider chooses to calculate, from the same underlying reports. What the April 2026 announcements changed is which models Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA will accept for mortgage underwriting — not whether a model exists for your file. Ask the lender which model and which bureaus they will pull.
- Should I wait for the new models before applying?
- That is a question for your loan officer, not for a credit reporting page. What is worth doing in either case is reading all three reports first, because the models all run on those reports and an error in one of them travels into every score built from it.
- Does the tri-merge requirement still apply?
- Yes. The FHFA announcement kept the tri-merge requirement, so a report from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion is still involved. That is one reason an item is worth checking on all three: furnishers do not all report to all three bureaus, so the same account can look different on each.
- Will disputing an item change my score?
- Filing a dispute does not itself lower a score. What happens after depends on the outcome: if the bureau verifies the item, it stays; if it is deleted or corrected, the file changes and any score built from that file is recalculated from the new data. No one can tell you in advance which way a specific file moves.
Sources
Every dated claim on this page links to the document it came from.
- Homebuying Advances into New Era of Credit Score Competition, April 22, 2026
Federal Housing Finance Agency
- HUD No. 26-026 — FHA credit score models
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Credit Scores policy page
Federal Housing Finance Agency
- What is the difference between VantageScore 4.0 and Classic FICO scores?
Equifax
Loosn tracks federal credit-reporting enforcement and agency guidance in a public index. See the Sentinel index →
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