Fair Isaac Corporation is maintaining its $10 price for mortgage lenders to access its FICO credit scores, despite increasing competitive pressure from alternative scoring models. This pricing applies to lenders participating in the company’s Preferred Program, which offers a bundled service including both the traditional FICO score and the more recent FICO Score 10T. The latter is designed to enhance predictive accuracy regarding borrowers’ likelihood of repaying mortgage loans.

The $10 fee for FICO scores contrasts with the roughly $4 charge associated with obtaining credit scores through VantageScore 4.0, a competing model provided by the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. VantageScore’s lower cost has raised concerns among investors about the possibility of FICO losing market share, particularly as the mortgage lending landscape evolves.

FICO has historically been the dominant credit-scoring provider for the mortgage industry, a position that regulators have recently begun to challenge. Last year, government-backed mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which had previously limited their scoring models to FICO, began permitting the use of VantageScore in their underwriting processes. This regulatory shift has opened doors for VantageScore to expand its presence in the sector.

Prior to this regulatory change, FICO had already increased its prices substantially, more than doubling fees to the current $10 level last year. This year, however, the company opted not to raise prices further, citing a desire to ensure continued access to its scoring tools for mortgage lenders despite the competitive environment.

The company’s stock has reflected these challenges, declining by approximately 50% so far this year. As market dynamics continue to shift, the competition between FICO and VantageScore intensifies, highlighting ongoing debates over pricing, predictive accuracy, and market share within the mortgage credit scoring industry.