What is the FICO Preferred Program?

A FICO pricing program that holds the wholesale mortgage score price at $10 for enrolled lenders and brokers, delivered through participating tri-merge resellers. The $10 covers both Classic FICO and FICO Score 10T.

Does the Preferred Program require FICO on every credit pull?

As reported by HousingWire and described by analysts at Mizuho, enrolled lenders commit to pulling FICO on all mortgage applications, soft and hard. VantageScore 4.0 can still be added, but only in addition to FICO.

Is $10 the full cost of a FICO-scored credit report?

No. The $10 is the score price per bureau, per borrower. Repository data charges and reseller fees are separate, and UBS notes the announced price excludes funding, closed-loan and success fees.

Can lenders use VantageScore 4.0 instead of FICO?

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accept VantageScore 4.0 for loans underwritten in DU and LPA, and FHA accepts it for case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2027. Under the Preferred Program it can be added, not substituted.

Is FICO Score 10T accepted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Not yet for delivery. FHFA has approved it and the GSEs have released historical data, but no delivery date has been set. VA has no model requirement, and FHA accepts FICO 10T from January 1, 2027.

FICO Preferred Program: What Lenders Need to Know

The FICO® Preferred Program holds the wholesale price of a mortgage FICO score at $10 for lenders and brokers who enroll through participating tri-merge resellers, and the $10 now covers both Classic FICO and FICO Score 10T. As reported by HousingWire and described by analysts at Mizuho and UBS, enrolled lenders commit to buying a FICO score on every mortgage credit pull, soft and hard. The price is flat. The trade-off is flexibility, and it arrives just as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA let lenders choose a score model loan by loan.

A flat price after several years of increases is good news for lenders, and folding FICO 10T into the same price gives them access to FICO's newest model at no added cost from FICO. The commitment attached to that price deserves equal attention.

What did FICO announce?

Price: $10 wholesale per score, unchanged from a year earlier.
What the $10 covers: a bundle of Classic FICO and FICO 10T. FICO 10T is approved by FHFA but not yet accepted for delivery to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Who qualifies: lenders and brokers enrolled in the Preferred Program through participating tri-merge resellers.
When it starts: on enrollment, according to UBS, rather than January 1, 2027.
Other 2027 options: FICO has other mortgage pricing options for 2027 that it has not yet disclosed.

What does the Preferred Program commitment require?

FICO's release says the price is available to lenders "who have committed to FICO." Trade coverage fills in what that means: enrolled lenders pull FICO on 100% of mortgage applications, including soft and hard pulls. VantageScore 4.0 is still permitted, but only in addition to FICO, never in place of it.

UBS added two points lenders should note. The program's economics run between FICO and the reseller, so it needs no approval from FHFA or the GSEs. And the commitment stays in place even if FHFA changes or replaces today's tri-merge requirement.

The written agreement terms are not yet public. Before enrolling, lenders should get clear answers on:

whether soft prequalifications and borrower-ordered reports count toward the commitment;
whether it applies to the whole company, a branch or a single account;
the term, renewal and exit provisions, and what happens if the lender later chooses a different model;
how FICO 10T is delivered and billed when ordered.

What does the $10 price not include?

The $10 is the price of the score, not the price of a credit report. UBS notes it also excludes funding, closed-loan and success fees.

Scores are priced per bureau, per borrower. A three-bureau report carries three FICO scores for one borrower and six for a joint application. At $10 each, that is $30 or $60 in FICO score charges on every pull the commitment covers.

Those figures are a floor, not the cost of the report. The repositories charge separately for the credit data behind every score, and resellers add merging and delivery. Expect the all-in price of a FICO-scored report to run well above the score charges alone.

The bureaus have not announced their 2027 data pricing. They jointly own VantageScore and currently offer it for as little as $0.99 per score, or at no added charge alongside FICO. What they charge for the data on a FICO-scored file is the number to watch in 2027.

Why does the timing matter for lenders?

One pricing grid

For loans settled on or after October 1, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac apply the same loan-level price adjustments to Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0. Since September 9, every approved lender can deliver loans scored with VantageScore 4.0 through Desktop Underwriter and Loan Product Advisor. A lender can now price a loan on whichever model it delivers, and for some borrowers the two models land in different pricing tiers. Lenders have noticed: trade reporting cites Fannie Mae data showing 37% of September DU applications included a VantageScore 4.0 score.

Choosing the score after the pull

Lenders have taken two approaches to score choice. Some pull both models on every file and use the stronger qualifying score. Others have considered ordering VantageScore first and adding FICO only when a loan requires it, such as a manually underwritten file or an investor that requires Classic FICO.

Mizuho described the Preferred Program as designed to neutralize that second approach: when FICO is purchased on every pull, ordering VantageScore first no longer lowers the lender's cost. Under the program, adding VantageScore to a file costs little. Substituting it for FICO is not an option.

Staged credit purchasing

In October, Equifax and TransUnion introduced tools that let lenders buy a credit file with no score or a score of their choice, then add scores later in the process (Equifax Mortgage Score Select and TransUnion First Look Functionality for Mortgage). Both target the cost of credit purchased for applications that never close. A commitment covering every soft and hard pull limits how far a lender can use them.

Fewer bureaus

FHFA has said it is studying the use of one or two credit reports in place of three. If that change comes, the score becomes a larger share of the total credit cost on each file, and a FICO commitment signed under today's rules would carry into the new structure.

Where is each score model accepted today?

Program or channel	Classic FICO	VantageScore 4.0	FICO 10T
Fannie Mae (DU)	Accepted	Accepted, all approved lenders since Sept. 9, 2026; three bureaus; same model for every borrower on the loan	Approved, not yet accepted for delivery
Freddie Mac (LPA)	Accepted	Accepted, all approved lenders; a Caution risk class must use Classic FICO	Approved, not yet accepted for delivery
GSE manual underwriting	Accepted	Not accepted	Not accepted
FHA	Accepted	Case numbers assigned on or after Jan. 1, 2027	Case numbers assigned on or after Jan. 1, 2027
VA	Accepted	Accepted; VA has no model requirement	Accepted; VA has no model requirement
USDA	Accepted	No published guidance located	No published guidance located
Jumbo, non-QM, portfolio	Investor by investor	Investor by investor	Investor by investor; most 10T use to date is here

Since October 1, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac price Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0 on one loan-level grid. Sources and dates for every row are on our Credit Score Tracker.

Before paying for a newer model, confirm your loan origination system can receive and use it. The GSEs note that readiness varies by technology provider, and many systems are still built around Classic FICO alone.

How do the published score prices compare?

	FICO Preferred Program	VantageScore 4.0
Published price	$10 per score, Classic FICO and FICO 10T bundled	As low as $0.99 per score (bureau promotional pricing; TransUnion's extended through 2028)
Price when ordered with the other model	n/a	No added charge alongside FICO at TransUnion
Purchase obligation	FICO on every mortgage pull, soft and hard (as reported)	None
GSE use	Classic FICO: DU, LPA and manual. FICO 10T: not yet accepted for delivery	DU and LPA only
Not included in the price	Repository data and report charges, reseller fees; funding, closed-loan and success fees	Repository data and report charges, reseller fees

Published prices are wholesale score prices only. None of them is an all-in credit report price.

What should lenders weigh before enrolling?

Total credit cost across the pipeline. The per-score price matters less than what you spend on every pull, including applications that never close.

Your investor and program mix. Manual underwriting, investors that require Classic FICO, and FHA's January 1 start date all affect how much flexibility you actually use.

System readiness. The bundle includes FICO 10T, but 10T is not yet accepted for GSE delivery and your loan origination system may not support it. Confirm it does before counting 10T as part of the value.

What has not been disclosed yet. FICO's other 2027 options and the full agreement terms are still to come. FICO reports earnings November 4, and FHFA has signaled further action on credit score competition but has not said when.

How the commitment holds up if the report changes. A two-bureau or single-bureau file would change your cost structure. The commitment, as reported, would not change with it.

Where does Credit Technologies stand?

Credit Technologies provides every scoring model and bureau combination our members request: Classic FICO, FICO 10T, VantageScore 4.0 or any combination of them, from three, two or one bureau, on soft or hard pulls. Credit Technologies will also support FICO's Preferred Program for members who enroll. As FICO, FHFA and the GSEs publish details, we will help members model total cost under each option, and we will update this article and our Credit Score Tracker.

FICO Preferred Program: The Price Holds, the Choices Narrow