Freddie Mac’s Sonu Mittal and Fannie Mae’s Jake Williamson detailed the GSEs’ challenges and successes in a deeply troubled mortgage market.

Balance-sheet normalization at the Fed leads to spread widening, but with a significant lag and focused on premium coupons.

Fannie/Freddie executives say UAD 3.6 extensions were offered in response to industry feedback, with just 10% of current flow using the new data standards.

FHFA Director Bill Pulte was expected to announce a shift to the bi-merge at the MBA’s conference this week. He ended up skipping the event to join President Trump on the campaign trail.

Industry participants are split on the pros and cons of allowing lenders to pull scores from just two credit reporting agencies.

Large lenders are flocking to deploy VantageScore 4.0, but others are being more cautious due to shifting GSE guidelines. There’s also uncertainty for investors in MBS and MSRs.

The sharp decline in home price appreciation makes it possible that lenders’ early-bird loan limits for 2027 will come in above the 2026 conforming loan limits.

Critics argue that applying the same LLPA pricing grids to VS4 and Classic FICO will camouflage, but not eliminate, the added credit risk associated with the typically higher VS4 score.

There will soon be five separate credit scores applicable to mortgages, with varied ranges and outputs. (Includes data table.)

Lenders expect confusion if the GSEs haven’t implemented FICO 10T before FHA allows for use of the score in January.