FICO Score 10T: Historical Data, Adopter Program, and What’s Next (Sponsored)
Julie May is Vice President and General Manager of B2B Scores with FICO
FICO® Score 10T: Adoption Momentum, Historical Data, and What Can Lenders Do Now
The most critical question in the credit score conversation in mortgage lending is also the most essential: which score is most predictive — and therefore best positioned to serve lenders, investors, servicers, and borrowers?
The market is already answering that question. More than 40 mortgage lenders — including seven of the ten largest in the U.S. — are now actively evaluating FICO® Score 10T alongside Classic FICO in live environments for non-conforming mortgage loans, even though they already have the option to use VantageScore 4.0.
With non-conforming evaluation well underway, lenders are now asking the natural next question: when will FICO® Score 10T historical data be available to support evaluation for conforming loans? Meaningful evaluation depends on access to this data — it enables lenders to back-test performance, assess risk across economic cycles, and evaluate how the score would have behaved within their own underwriting, pricing, and risk management frameworks. These are important and reasonable questions, and we welcome the opportunity to provide clarity.
Where the FICO® Score 10T Historical Data Process Stands
In December, both FICO and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte announced that the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and FICO agreed to terms for the release of approximately 50 million historical FICO® Score 10T scores for lender evaluation on data associated with the GSEs’ Single Family Loan-Level datasets. That agreement followed months of collaborative work among FICO, FHFA, and the GSEs — and FICO has fully delivered on every commitment required to make this data available.
We know lenders are eager to analyze this data — and we share that urgency. The process to make the data available involves multiple stakeholders: the GSEs and FICO agree on terms and conditions, then the GSEs and the credit bureaus contract based on those terms and conditions to get scored files from each credit bureau. Once contracting is done, the GSEs send loan identifier files to the credit bureaus, who utilize this to create the score files. Once the scored files (for 50M records across 12 years) are processed, they are sent to the GSEs. At this stage, the GSEs analyze the files, and complete the steps to publish the data for stakeholders.
The current status of the data is with the GSEs to review and publish the data. As of the end of last week, all score files per the terms and conditions were provided to the GSEs for their review, analysis, and eventual publication. FICO remains engaged and supportive, and we are confident the teams at the GSEs are doing everything possible to make the data available to stakeholders as soon as possible.
FICO has every incentive to get this data into lenders’ hands quickly, because we know it will show: FICO® Score 10T is the most predictive credit score available for mortgage lending today.
You Don’t Have to Wait to Start Evaluating FICO® Score 10T Now
While GSE historical datasets are still forthcoming, lenders have meaningful ways to evaluate FICO® Score 10T right now. FICO offers two programs designed to put real performance data in lenders’ hands today.
Through the FICO® Score 10T Adopter Program, which we launched at the end of 2024 to get FICO Score 10T in the hands of users, lenders receive FICO Score 10T for free with Classic FICO, enabling side-by-side evaluation of FICO Score 10T to Classic FICO in live production environments. Participating lenders — who collectively manage over $382 billion in annual originations and $1.6 trillion in servicing portfolios—are using dual scoring to evaluate how the trended credit data and rental payment data included in FICO Score 10T influence portfolio insights and underwriting confidence across borrower segments.
FICO is incredibly proud to be working with this growing list of forward-thinking lenders who are using dual scoring to evaluate how trended credit data and rental payment data influence portfolio insights and underwriting confidence across borrower segments — supporting thoughtful risk management while helping more borrowers responsibly access homeownership.
Beyond the Adopter Program, FICO offers the FICO® Archive Score Program as an additional tool for lender evaluation and validation. Through this program, mortgage lenders can access up to two million free archive FICO Scores, calculated using depersonalized historical consumer credit data. These scores allow lenders to conduct retrospective testing and validation across existing portfolios and applicant populations using their own data and risk frameworks. Archive FICO Scores are available through resellers and the credit bureaus.
FICO Is Here to Help
As lenders move from evaluation toward implementation, FICO remains closely engaged as a partner in the process. For more than three decades, FICO® Scores have played a foundational role in supporting the safety and soundness of the U.S. mortgage ecosystem, helping lenders manage risk across economic cycles. Building on that legacy, our Mortgage and Capital Markets team works directly with institutions at every stage of adoption, offering hands-on guidance and technical support to help strengthen risk management and reduce default exposure. The objective is straightforward: to help lenders translate the predictive power of FICO Score 10T into thoughtful decisions that support borrowers while reinforcing the long-term stability and resilience of the mortgage market.
For more information on FICO® Score 10T historical data, the Adopter Program, or the FICO Archive Score Program, interested parties may contact FICO’s Mortgage and Capital Markets team directly.
(Sponsored content includes material submitted independently of the Mortgage Bankers Association and MBA NewsLink and does not connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. For more information about sponsored content opportunities, contact Bill Farmakis at bill@jlfarmakis.com or 203/834-8832.)
