MBA Comments on FHFA’s Credit Scoring Implementation Plan

The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced updates to its implementation plan for the GSEs’ adoption of FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 and bi-merge reporting requirements. Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, issued the following comments.

“FHFA’s reformulated implementation plan is an acknowledgment of the significant operational complexities and the magnitude of this effort on the housing finance system, consumers, and investors of mortgage assets. MBA has advocated for a longer implementation timeline, and we appreciate FHFA taking our recommendations to heart,” Broeksmit said.

“A comprehensive and collaborative process is necessary for these efforts to succeed, and it’s our hope that the stakeholder forums announced today will lead to sufficient time for robust data transparency and more opportunities to provide feedback,” Broeksmit added.

Broeksmit noted MBA continues to support FHFA’s efforts to ensure better competition in the credit scoring space. “And [we] will work with them to ensure unintended consequences are mitigated and that costs, complexity, consumer impact, and policy implications are taken into consideration,” he said.