GSEs release historical FICO 10T data, expand VantageScore 4.0 file

Support for housing finance resilience

FHFA Director Bill Pulte announced the adoption of the new credit scoring models in April, noting at the time that the data would be available this summer. Access to historical credit data is a critical step for the mortgage industry’s transition. It allows lenders, investors and risk modelers to validate score performance and ensure regulatory compliance.

“The Federal Housing Finance Agency and the GSEs have taken an important step forward in advancing the credit score modernization effort with the release of the FICO Score 10T historical data,” Julie May, vice president and general manager of B2B Scores at FICO, said in a statement.

“FICO Score 10T is the most predictive credit score model available, built on a long history of trusted performance designed to support the safety and soundness of the housing market. We’re eager for market participants to dig into the data to independently validate the strength of the model and see how its use can expand access for borrowers while supporting a more resilient housing finance system.”

The currently available data represents loans acquired by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) from approximately April 2013 to September 2025, closely aligning with applications and originations from January 2013 to June 2025.

“Trended data is a key component of the new scoring models and, following discussions with the credit bureaus, it was confirmed that they do not have consistent trended data to support the calculation of FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 prior to 2013,” the GSEs said in an FAQ published on their websites.

Digging into the methodology

The anonymous historical credit data provides an “Average then Average” loan-level score calculation methodology — meaning the available credit scores from each credit bureau are averaged for each borrower.

For loans with multiple borrowers, a simple average of all borrowers’ credit scores is calculated. If a loan lacked a FICO Score 10T or VantageScore 4.0 credit score from any bureau, it was excluded from the historical file.

But the current tri-merge “Middle/Lower then Lowest” methodology is also available. Under that system, the middle of three (or lower of two) credit bureau scores is selected for each borrower, and the lowest score among all borrowers on the loan is ultimately chosen.

“The Classic FICO calculation methodology will not be changing, and the data is already available through the existing disclosure datasets,” the GSEs said.

VantageScore 4.0 is currently available to a limited number of lenders, while FICO Score 10T will be made available at a later date, according to the enterprises.

Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), issued a statement Wednesday to welcome the release of the dataset and to commend Pulte and the GSEs for making it available.

“We encourage continued collaboration to complete the remaining reviews needed to make both VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T broadly available. Doing so will give lenders greater flexibility while providing borrowers with the benefits of using either of the two validated, more predictive credit scoring models, which should score more consumers accurately and expand sustainable access to homeownership,” Broeksmit said.

“MBA will continue working with FHFA, the GSEs, and industry stakeholders to support a smooth implementation of modernized scores and advocate for additional reforms to the costly tri-merge credit reporting requirement. To increase competition and lower costs for consumers, MBA continues to urge the GSEs to adopt a single report option for GSE borrowers with strong credit profiles.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated with comments from FICO’s Julie May and MBA’s Bob Broeksmit.

This article was written by Flávia Furlan Nunes and generated with the assistance of HousingWire Automation, then reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication.