The FHFA did not immediately respond HousingWire‘s request for comment.
The MBA’s concerns, which were expressed in a letter to Pulte on December 12, 2025, included information from members reporting an increase in credit reporting costs for 2026. The increases averaged 40% to 50% and included “dramatic” price increases for the government-sponsored enterprises’ government-sponsored “tri-merge” credit product.
The three big agencies — Equifax, Experian And TransUnion — collect financial and personal data to create consumer credit files. Honest Isaac Corp. (FICO) provides the algorithm that converts this data into FICO scores, which are combined into a “tri-merge” report that mortgage lenders use to approve loans and set interest rates.
But there have been conversations about shifting the longstanding tri-merge report to a bi-merge version, especially after the FHFA’s July 2025 approval of VantageScore 4.0.
TransUnion said in November that it would charge $4 per VantageScore 4.0 starting in 2026, compared to FICO’s $10. Experian said it would offer the product for free indefinitely and promised future prices at least 50% below FICO. And Equifax said it would charge $4.50 per score through 2027, while offering it for free to FICO customers through 2026.
A FICO spokesperson told HousingWire in November that “if lenders experience cost increases for credit in 2026, it will be the result of the agencies increasing the cost of the credit file data… to offset the lost revenue they previously received as distributors of the FICO score.”
MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit has long criticized price increases. In November 2025, to say that “the credit reporting industry continues to abuse its government-granted oligopoly to line its pockets at the expense of consumers and lenders.”
Pulte wrote that his communications with the credit bureau’s CEOs “fell on deaf ears.”
Echoing Pulte’s posts, Bloomberg reported that shares of Experian, Equifax, TransUnion and FICO all fell. Equifax shares fell as much as 6% on Tuesday, while TransUnion fell 6.8%, FICO fell as much as 4.9% and Experian lost 2.7% in trading.
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