VantageScore 4.0 for Mortgages: Sept. 9

That expands something that had been running since April in a narrower form. VantageScore 4.0 became eligible for conventional delivery on April twenty-second, through a limited rollout restricted to approved lenders. What changed in September is how many can use it, not whether it exists.

The adoption figure is the part that surprised me, with one caveat about where it comes from. VantageScore's own announcement states that as of August thirty-first, VantageScore 4.0 had been the sole credit score on more than nine percent of all mortgages securitized by Fannie and Freddie since May first. That is the company's figure about its own product rather than an independent count, and I would read it as such. If it is even approximately right, it is not a pilot's worth of volume in a four-month window.

For a borrower, this does not change what a good file looks like. What it changes is that the model chosen for your loan is now a real variable rather than a fixed background fact, and that is a question you can ask.

The coverage compressed two events into one.

April twenty-second: VantageScore 4.0 became eligible for delivery on conventional loans to Fannie and Freddie, under a rollout limited to approved lenders. That was the substantive change. The model was in, for some.

September fourth and ninth: VantageScore announced that FHFA had directed both enterprises to accept the model, and on the ninth Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published broad-availability notices effective that day. That is an access change. The model was already eligible, and the restriction on who could elect it came off.

Between those two dates, VantageScore says adoption ran further than a limited rollout implies: more than nine percent of GSE-securitized mortgages since May first had VantageScore 4.0 as their sole credit score, measured to August thirty-first. Again, that is the vendor's own number.

The distinction between an eligibility change and an access change is not pedantry, either. In April the question for a borrower was whether their lender happened to be an approved participant, which was not something most people could find out easily. From the ninth it is a question about what the lender chose to implement, which is a question a loan officer can answer.

I labor the sequence because it determines what you should expect. This is not a new model arriving untested. It is an existing option opening to every approved seller after four months of real volume.

Which is most of it.

It does not change what makes a file strong. Payment history, balances against limits, the age of your accounts, how recently you have opened things: all of these matter under both models. Nobody has to relearn credit.

It does not remove Classic FICO. The directive expands what lenders may use, not what they must. A lender can continue on the Classic FICO versions it has always used, and I would expect a good deal of that to happen, because changing scoring infrastructure is a project rather than a switch. Fannie Mae also excludes manually underwritten loans from VantageScore 4.0 outright, so those stay on Classic FICO regardless. How many lenders actually move is not something the expansion determines or that anyone can currently count.

It does not change your credit report. The September expansion did not itself alter credit reporting requirements. What reports are required depends on the enterprise, the product and the model elected: Fannie Mae requires all three VantageScore reports when that model is chosen, while Freddie Mac's general requirement is scores from at least two consumer reporting agencies, and bureau files differ from each other anyway. Your report still changes the way it always does, as furnishers update it.

Narrower and more actionable.

The model used on your loan is now a variable. Before April it was effectively fixed for conventional loans; between April and September it depended on whether your lender was an approved participant; from September ninth it is an election the lender makes on each eligible loan.

That means a question worth asking, in those words. It also means two lenders may now evaluate the same borrower with different models. That has always been true across product types, but within conventional mortgage lending it is newly true, and for a file where the two models disagree it could matter.

• On an eligible loan the lender elects the model, and the same one applies to every borrower on that loan.
• Ask which model, which version, and which bureaus, before you apply.
• Expect plenty of lenders to stay on Classic FICO, though nobody can currently count how many.
• A different model reads bureau files, though not necessarily the same set of them or the identical inputs.
• If two lenders quote differently, the model may be one of several reasons.

This is the most over-claimed part of the coverage.

VantageScore 4.0 is designed to use rental payment history where it is present in the credit file. The critical qualifier is "where it is present." The model can read rent data, but it cannot invent it. If your landlord does not report to the bureaus and you are not enrolled in a service that does, there is no rent history on your file for any model to read.

So the sequence for a renter is: get the rent reporting first, then the model that reads it becomes relevant. Not the other way round. A directive expanding which lenders may use a model does nothing for a file that contains no rental data.

That is worth saying clearly because the announcement generated a good deal of commentary about renters, and the actionable part is upstream of the model. You cannot put rent history into a credit file yourself: a landlord, property manager or reporting service has to furnish it to the nationwide credit reporting agencies. If you rent, pay traceably and ask whether your payments can be reported. Then the model choice becomes something that might work in your favor.

Ask the model question early, at pre-approval rather than at application, because the answer may inform which lender you use.

Do not shop lenders on the basis of which model they use. Shop on rate, fees and competence, and treat the model as a piece of information rather than a criterion. A lender using a model that scores you three points higher and charging you a quarter point more is not a good trade.

The temptation is available, so it is worth being explicit.

I would not conclude that Classic FICO is finished. An expansion of permission is not a migration, and mortgage infrastructure moves slowly for reasons that have nothing to do with what a directive permits.

I would not conclude that borrowers will broadly score better. Two models reading the same file produce different numbers in both directions, and a change in which model is available does not systematically favor applicants.

I would not conclude anything about future lender uptake from the nine percent figure, which measures loans where VantageScore 4.0 was the sole score during a period when only approved lenders could use it. That is a real and substantial number, and extrapolating it forward through a broad-availability period is a guess.

What I would take from it is narrower: a second model is genuinely in production at scale in conventional mortgage lending, it is now available to any approved seller that wants it, and the question of which one is being used has become answerable and worth asking. That is a smaller claim than most of the coverage made and it is the part I can stand behind.

This sits alongside other movement in mortgage scoring during 2026, including changes in how scores are priced and distributed to lenders. The direction is toward more than one supplier in a market where conventional lending had effectively required a single model.

Whether a second supplier changes what lenders pay, and whether any of that reaches borrowers, is a question for a couple of years' time rather than for now. I would treat confident claims in either direction as premature, including the optimistic ones.

One directive, one date, and a change that is real but smaller than the headlines implied. From September ninth, Fannie Mae approved lenders and Freddie Mac sellers may elect VantageScore 4.0 on eligible loans. From April twenty-second the model was already eligible for approved lenders, and it had already been the sole score on more than nine percent of GSE-securitized volume since May.

For you, the practical consequence is one question added to your pre-approval conversation: which model, which version, which bureaus. Ask it early, note the answer, and then go back to the things that actually move a file: balances, timeliness, and not disturbing anything in the weeks before closing.

If you rent, the useful action is upstream of all of this: get your rent reported, because a model that can read rental history does nothing with a file that has none.

And treat the coverage carefully. A permission expanding is not a migration, an available model is not an adopted one, and a different score is not automatically a better one. The facts here are as VantageScore announced them on September fourth and as the enterprises published them for the ninth; what lenders do with the permission is not yet known.

1. What changed with FHFA and VantageScore 4.0 in September 2026?

VantageScore announced on September 4, 2026 that FHFA Director Bill Pulte had directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept VantageScore 4.0. Both published broad-availability notices dated September 9, effective that day, expanding a rollout that since April 22, 2026 had been limited to approved lenders.

2. Does this mean my mortgage lender will use VantageScore 4.0?

Not necessarily. The expansion changes what lenders may elect, not what they must, and Fannie Mae excludes manually underwritten loans from VantageScore 4.0 outright. Many lenders will continue on the Classic FICO versions they already use, since changing scoring infrastructure is not a decision made simply because it is permitted.

3. Will VantageScore 4.0 give me a higher credit score?

Not automatically. The two models read some inputs differently and produce differences in both directions depending on the file. A change in which model is available does not systematically favor applicants.

4. How much is VantageScore 4.0 actually being used for mortgages?

As of August 31, 2026 it had been the sole credit score on more than 9% of all mortgages securitized by Fannie and Freddie since May 1, 2026, during a period when only approved lenders could use it.

5. Does VantageScore 4.0 count my rent payments?

It is designed to use rental payment history where that data is present in your credit file. It cannot invent data, and you cannot furnish it yourself, so unless a landlord, property manager or reporting service reports the payments there is no rent history for any model to read.

6. What should I ask my loan officer now?

Which credit score model and version will be used for your application, and from which bureaus. It is a factual question with a factual answer, and it is worth asking at pre-approval rather than at application.

7. Should I choose a lender based on which score model they use?

No. Shop on rate, fees and competence, and treat the model as information rather than a criterion. A lender whose model scores you slightly higher but who charges more is not a good trade.