Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Accept New Credit Scores

0:00It's April 22nd. Welcome in. This is US News Today, where America meets AI. I'm Cori with the story. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the big players backing most US mortgages, just started accepting new predictive credit scores that factor in rent and utility payments. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Polte announced this move to open up affordable home loans for more folks. These scores come from the vantage score 4.0 model, which uses smarter data analytics. Officials approved it back in 2022, and now it's live in their guarantee process. They're also gearing up for a tweaked phycosystem soon. Meanwhile, housing and urban development secretary Scott Turner said his department will use these scores for federal housing administration mortgages. 2. The goal is more competition among scoring models to drive down costs. This helps millions who pay rent on time, but get dinged by old school scores. It's part of the Trump administration's push on housing affordability amid rising prices, especially with midterm elections coming up, where Republicans hold slim leads in Congress.

1:09Bottom line. This modernizes credit checks, makes home ownership fair and could ease the squeeze on buyers nationwide.