Someone Is Spreading False Rumors About FICO Price Hikes 👀

Happy Thursday! We’ve got a special edition for you today.

A massive rumored FICO price hike that FICO says is… fake!

Plus, a breakdown of the big underwriting/processing changes at UWM. And a bankruptcy filed to collect $260M from Rocket. Mortgage is cooking 👨‍🍳 today, even as rates approach 7.4% (FML).

Let’s get into it!

There’s a rumor ripping through mortgage that FICO plans to raise its prices by as much as 9x(!!!!) in ‘27.

FICO told me it’s categorically false. More pointedly, the company believes the credit bureaus are helping spread the story before FICO has even finalized its ‘27 pricing.

Here’s what FICO has been sending to some of my lender sources 👇

A group representing the bureaus says it has no idea what FICO is talking about.

A spox for the Consumer Data Industry Association, the trade group representing the credit bureaus, told The Mortgage Scoop that they “haven’t heard anything related to that.”

So, for the moment, we have basically a mortgage version of Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”: a dramatic accusation moving around town, FICO insisting the alleged act hasn’t happened, & the bureau trade group saying it doesn’t know what everyone is talking about.

Love it!

FWIW, sources of mine said very few people are involved in the pricing discussions at FICO & it will probably be at least another month until we know what the hike is. But I would put real money on there being another hike, even if it isn’t 9x…

UWM’s new Underwriting+ program looks, on its face, like a faster way to close loans. But it may also offer a glimpse at what happens to the underwriting job when technology starts doing more of the underwriting.

Underwriting+ essentially combines underwriting & processing. The underwriter can collect missing docs, communicate directly w/ borrowers & third parties, clear conditions and move the file toward closing, work that traditionally bounced between multiple ops employees. UWM says thousands of pilot loans averaged 8.3 days from submission to clear-to-close & just 2.1 underwriting touches per file.

One source told The Mortgage Scoop that he’s heard UWM has implemented so much AI & automation into underwriting that its underwriters now have additional capacity. Like, a ton of additional capacity.

UWM didn’t immediately reply to my request for comment, but if that is the case, Underwriting+ represents an interesting evolution of the role. The technology handles more of the repetitive underwriting work, while the human underwriter absorbs responsibilities that historically belonged to processors.

Bigger picture, this is a continuation of UWM’s broader automation push. The lender has introduced BOLT, Loan Lab, an AI-powered income calculator & AI tools that communicate directly w/ borrowers (& I didn’t even mention my girl Mia).

I asked a bunch of brokers what they thought about Underwriting+. Several said they think UWM is doing this in part b/c a lot of the LOs sending loans are green & would benefit from the support. One Florida broker who uses his own processors said he “would prefer that the underwriters at UWM simply were better at underwriting instead of also trying to do processing.” He told me he didn’t want underwriters talking to his borrowers.

But it may make sense financially for some brokers. One in Ohio told me he’s paying $16K for two processors & was considering hiring a third processor. Now he doesn’t have to.

“It’s really hard to find good processors & load manage. This solves the problem. Basically, I can have my guys oversee & then use UWM either on a full-time basis or just per file.”

FWIW, there were some pretty funny comments in the FB groups about Underwriting+.

“Are they gonna tell themselves to CR themselves for their own wrong conditions?” wrote one broker.

“So when processing the loan, if the underwriter sees something that could potentially kill the deal, will the UW act as a processor to change things around to save the deal, or act as an UW, & say the issue cannot be unseen?” asked another.

It’s worth noting that, per one broker, consolidating processing & underwriting w/ the same person could reduce opportunities for fraud by eliminating handoffs & putting more of the document collection, review & condition-clearing in the underwriter’s hands.

“LOs come up w/ the fraud, processors execute it,” he said.

Property data firm HouseCanary filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday in NJ to buy time to collect more than $260M from affiliates of Rocket Mortgage, which were accused of stealing a computer model used to quickly value homes for real estate investors & mortgage brokers.

According to Bloomberg, HouseCanary filed for Chapter 11 protection not long after winning two jury verdicts against Rocket subsidiary Amrock. The company says that after adding interest & other costs, it could collect more than $260M assuming the second verdict is not overturned. HouseCanary plans to borrow as much as $15M to help it continue operating while in bankruptcy.

In response, a rep for Rocket Close told The Scoop, “HouseCanary appears to have confused a disputed jury award with money in the bank. If a check from Rocket Close is its plan for surviving bankruptcy, it may want to pivot.

No judgment has been entered in this litigation. The court is still considering legal challenges that will determine whether a judgment is entered at all and we intend to appeal any adverse judgment. HouseCanary’s need for $260 million does nothing to resolve those issues.”

Here’s a gift link to the Bloomberg article.

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