FICO Freezes Prices. But There's a Catch.

After years of jacking up mortgage credit score prices, FICO has apparently discovered the virtues of pricing restraint*. Funny what a little competition will do!

On Friday, FICO announced that it would hold its wholesale mortgage credit score price at $10 in ‘27 for lenders enrolled in its relatively new Preferred Program. That covers both Classic FICO & FICO 10T, w/ no additional funded-loan fee. Sounds decent, right?

Well, it’s not quite that simple. We’ll break it down for you in today’s edition of The Mortgage Scoop. Plus, we have details on which servicers are increasing marketshare & which ones are selling to free up cash. And does everyone hate their subservicer? We explore!

So FICO is keeping prices flat for ‘27. That sounds like v good news for lenders, right? Well, yes*. As long as they're willing to buy FICO scores on every single credit pull.

First, let's be clear: This isn't a price cut. FICO introduced the $10-per-score option last October as part of its direct-licensing model, which allows tri-merge resellers to bypass the credit bureaus. Lenders could either pay $10 per score or opt for performance-based pricing: $4.95 per score plus $33 per borrower per score on funded loans.

And the inclusion of FICO 10T isn't exactly a new perk, either. During FICO's August earnings call, CEO Will Lansing told analysts, "If you pay for Classic, you get 10T free."

So what's actually changing? I’m glad you asked!

According to analyst notes from UBS & Mizuho, Preferred Program lenders must commit to purchasing FICO scores on 100% of their credit pulls, both soft & hard. The agreement is technically nonexclusive, so lenders can still use VantageScore. But even if VantageScore is the better option, they're committed to buying FICO alongside it.

Basically, FICO is offering price certainty in exchange for a commitment to keep buying its product, whether lenders need it or not lol.

As you know, VantageScore 4.0 is now accepted by both GSEs, & the bureaus have been offering it for as little as 99 cents per score, or at no additional charge when purchased alongside FICO. Meanwhile, FICO 10T still isn't eligible for GSE delivery, though that could change as early as January, per my sources.

But here's a critical point: We still don’t know what FICO plans to charge everyone else.

FICO has only disclosed its ‘27 Preferred Program pricing. Everything else remains TBD. I'm just a simple man making his way through the galaxy, but I have questions, namely:

The TL;DR: FICO is guaranteeing $10 pricing to lenders willing to commit their volume, but hasn't said what happens to those who want flexibility. Will lenders who decline the Preferred Program face higher prices in ‘27? The industry had been bracing for a massive increase, w/ rumors ranging from flat pricing to nearly 10X. Friday's announcement surprised most lenders & analysts I spoke w/.

BTW, Wall Street isn't thrilled w/ the Friday announcement. FICO's stock was getting absolutely hammered Monday. Wells Fargo cut its FY ‘27 adjusted earnings estimate from $49.65 to $48.02 per share, while BMO Capital Markets called mortgage pricing FICO's "most important earnings lever." BMO argues the freeze sacrifices a major profit opportunity.

Wells Fargo also expects banks to adopt VantageScore slowly due to regulatory scrutiny & default-prediction concerns, even though its research suggests VantageScore more frequently produces favorable mortgage pricing.

My take: We're potentially witnessing a pretty significant strategic shift. For decades, FICO could essentially name its price thanks to its gov’t-sanctioned monopoly. Now lenders have a viable alternative, & FICO suddenly seems more interested in protecting volume than raising prices.

I also suspect FICO wants 10T in as many lenders' hands as possible ahead of its (eventual) GSE rollout. I've been told most resellers were kept in the dark about Friday's announcement, which is interesting. And I don't think it's a coincidence that UWM issued a press release earlier this month "reaffirming its commitment" to FICO. We’ll see more announcements like it in the coming weeks, I suspect.

Look, the Preferred Program could absolutely save lenders money. But—as ever—that depends on pull volumes, fallout rates & how often they'd otherwise choose VantageScore.

For lenders who value flexibility, paying last year's price might not be much of a bargain if it means buying FICO on every single pull. We’ll see!

At the end of Q3'26, the unpaid principal balance ("UPB") of one-to-four family agency mortgages rose to $9.0 trillion, an increase of 0.7% from Q2'26. The top 20 servicers now manage 76.5% of the agency mortgage servicing market.

Rocket Mortgage was the largest servicer with approximately 12.4% of the agency servicing market, followed by Lakeview at 10.1% and Pennymac at 7.1%. Other leading servicers included Freedom Mortgage, JPMorgan Chase, NewRez, CrossCountry, and Wells Fargo. The top 20 servicers manage 77.4% of the agency mortgage servicing market, an increase from 76.7% in Q2’26 driven in part by CrossCountry’s completed acquisition of Two Harbors in August 2026. 

Compared to Q3'25, Carrington share saw the largest market share increase (rose 0.7 percentage points to 2.2% from 1.6%), while Wells Fargo saw the largest market share decrease (declined 1.0 percentage point to 3.6% from 4.6%). Nonbank servicers, as a group, now represent 67.6% of the agency servicing market, up from 65.7% a year earlier, reflecting their continued dominance in new originations and bulk MSR acquisitions. 

In terms of portfolio growth, among all servicers with more than $1 billion serviced in Q3'26, Cypress Loan Servicing had the largest portfolio growth over the past 12 months (710.4%, to $20.9 billion), followed by Cardinal Financial (227.5%, to $3.5 billion) and A&D Mortgage (146.2%, to $5.2 billion).

Among those same $1 billion+ servicers, Cypress Loan Servicing had the largest Ginnie Mae portfolio growth over the past 12 months (249.0%, to $5.8 billion), followed by Fairway (192.2%, to $5.2 billion) and AmeriHome (177.7%, to $25.8 billion).

This report is brought to you by Milliman. Milliman provides strategic and quantitative consulting services across the mortgage market with expertise in origination, servicing and capital investment.

Source: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae MBS Data Disclosure

One lender’s contract said it got a cut of its subservicer’s late fees every month. For two years it got nothing, & nobody noticed. By the time someone caught it, the subservicer owed millions. (The lender did get paid in the end.)

Steve Stone, managing director at advisory shop Garrett, McAuley & Co., told me that story late last week. It pretty much sums up his firm’s new PULSE Subservicer Benchmark.

The survey covered 53 mortgage banking firms. Composite satisfaction scores ran from 53 to 80 on a 100-point index, a 27-point gap between the best and worst subservicers. A quarter of respondents have never formally evaluated their subservicer. And 56% say fear of a transfer going wrong is the main reason they stay, including firms that rate their subservicer below the median.

“Generally, the sentiment in the industry is everyone’s subservicer sucks,” Stone told me.

But uhhhhhhh, there’s a bit of a problem. Since lenders figure they’re all meh/bad, a lot of them pick on price alone. So subservicers run on razor-thin margins, the mistakes pile up, they cut costs & service gets worse. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What separates the 80s from the 50s? These days it’s mostly responsiveness, Stone said. The tech gap has “largely” closed.

Recapture is where it hurts most. It scored lowest of PULSE’s five categories. Some subservicers still take months to let you market to your own borrowers, & charge “$10,000 every time you want to put up a banner ad.”

Stone’s advice is to match the subservicer to your book. A big-box shop that’s fine on performing agency loans can choke when your FHA loans start defaulting. And get the right to move your loans written into the contract in case your subservicer gets acquired.

“It’s just like dating,” Stone said. “You’ve got to find the right partner.”

You can check out the survey here. It’s def worth a read IMO.

(🙏 If you like what you’re reading, tell a fellow mortgage junkie to sign up here.)