The MReport Webcast: Monday 12/21/2015

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently made headlines when congress members said that the GSEs had a monopoly on their credit scoring system due to their singular use of the FICO score. These accusations brought up one important question: How does FICO feel about the situation?

Joanne Gaskin, Senior Director of Scores and Analytics at FICO sat down in an exclusive interview with MReport to reveal where the company stands in this move to introduce more credit scoring systems at the GSEs and enhance credit access among borrowers. She said, “There is no credit score monopoly. Lenders have always freely acquired FICO scores from the three primary credit repositories for making credit score decisions.”

The higher demand for single-family rental properties, primarily due to low vacancy rates, has put upward pressure on rents. In turn, rising rents have prevented many would-be first-time homebuyers from entering the housing market. The national homeownership rate fell to a 48-year low in the summer of 2015 to 63 point 6 percent. All of these factors have prompted the question as to whether or not housing policy should continue a focus on traditional homeownership or concentrate its efforts on a broader definition of what constitutes shelter.