On September 9, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expanded VantageScore 4.0 to every approved lender, removing the prior written-approval requirement that had confined the model to a limited rollout. That is the real headline, and it is narrower than it sounds. The approval changes which model a lender may run. It does not change which model a lender does run on your file, and it does not change the underwriting path your loan takes. For a borrower with a thin credit file, those two distinctions carry more weight than the model’s design.
The FHFA’s own policy page states the operative rule plainly: lenders may continue to use Classic FICO credit scores or use VantageScore 4.0 in accordance with the Enterprises’ Selling Guides. Use is optional. Classic FICO remains approved. No retirement date has been announced. So the first question a thin-file borrower should ask is not “does VantageScore 4.0 help me” but “which model did this lender run, and on which underwriting path.”
The mechanics a borrower actually encounters
Four procedural facts from the Fannie Mae credit score page and the FHFA policy page determine what shows up on your loan file:
One model per loan. Lenders must use the same credit score model for all borrowers on a given loan. A co-borrower cannot be scored on Classic FICO while the primary borrower is scored on VantageScore 4.0. If you and a spouse apply together, the lender picks one model and runs both files through it.
Tri-merge stays. The FHFA states that including VantageScore 4.0 does not initially change the Enterprises’ current credit reporting requirements, including tri-merge. When VantageScore 4.0 is selected, Fannie Mae requires it to be requested from each of the three credit bureaus. The bureau furnishing cycle that produces your three reports is unchanged; what changes is which scoring model reads them.
Special Feature Code 067. When a lender delivers a VantageScore 4.0 loan to Fannie Mae, it must include Special Feature Code 067 at loan delivery. This is an internal delivery marker, not something you see on your credit report, but it tells you the model choice is recorded at the loan level and travels with the loan.
The manual-underwriting carve-out. Fannie Mae’s page states that VantageScore 4.0 is not currently eligible for manually underwritten loans, which must continue to use Classic FICO. This is the fact thin-file borrowers most often miss. If your file falls out of Desktop Underwriter’s automated recommendation and a lender manually underwrites it, the VantageScore 4.0 option is not available for that loan regardless of lender approval. The model choice and the underwriting path are linked.
What “more inclusive” does and does not mean
FHFA’s policy page says the newer models take into account additional sources of data, including rent payment history, to more accurately assess credit risk. FHFA’s October 2022 fact sheet is more specific: both FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 include new payment history information such as rent, utilities, and telecom payments when available.
That phrase — when available — is the whole ballgame for a thin file. A model that can ingest alternative data helps only if the data exists and is furnished in a form the model accepts. Rent paid to a landlord who does not report to a bureau, or utility payments held by a provider that does not furnish, do not appear because a model is capable of reading them. The model’s capacity is a design statement, not a promise about any individual file. FHFA does not claim that any specific borrower’s odds improve, and neither should you assume it.
VantageScore’s own September 2026 press release makes larger claims about scoreability and market expansion. Those are the company’s marketing figures, not FHFA findings, and they describe populations, not your file. Treat them as context for why lenders are interested, not as evidence about your score.
Why two lenders can produce two different answers
Consider a hypothetical borrower — same file, same month, two lenders. Lender A runs Classic FICO only. Lender B has elected VantageScore 4.0 and runs it through Desktop Underwriter. The borrower could receive different score outcomes from the two, because the models weight the same credit report data differently and VantageScore 4.0 can read trended data that Classic FICO does not. Neither score is “the borrower’s score” in any permanent sense. Each is the output of a specific model run by a specific lender on a specific date.
This is why the practical question is procedural: ask the loan officer which scoring model the lender uses for the loan type you are pursuing, and whether the file is being run through automated underwriting or headed for manual review. If the answer is manual, VantageScore 4.0 is off the table for that loan under current Fannie Mae rules.
Timing and pricing: what has and has not changed
On September 30, 2026, the Enterprises published adjustments to upfront fees to align them across the Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0 models, establishing a consistent pricing approach for loans delivered using either model. On its face, that alignment means the model choice is not a pricing lever between the two approved models. A borrower should not assume that one model buys a better rate; the fee schedule is designed to be the same either way.
FICO 10T is not currently eligible for delivery, and the Enterprises will provide additional guidance when it becomes available. So the choice today is binary — Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 — not a menu of three. Any lender presenting it as a three-way choice is ahead of the delivery rules.
The lag between the September 9 expansion and what a given borrower sees is measured in lender adoption, not in bureau cycles. A lender that has not updated its loan origination system to request VantageScore 4.0 from all three bureaus and flag Special Feature Code 067 cannot offer the choice, regardless of the FHFA’s approval date. The borrower-facing signal is the loan officer’s answer, not the policy page.
A practical checklist for a thin file
Before assuming the approval changes your odds, work through what is actually reporting:
Pull all three bureau reports. The tri-merge requirement means the lender sees three files. A thin file at one bureau may be thicker at another. Check what each bureau holds before drawing conclusions about scoreability.
Identify what is not reporting. If you pay rent or utilities to providers that do not furnish, those payments are invisible to both models. The question is not whether VantageScore 4.0 can read alternative data but whether your data is being furnished at all.
Ask which model the lender runs. The answer can differ lender to lender, and it determines which score appears on your application. There is no single “your score” that transfers across lenders.
Ask whether the loan is automated or manual. If manual, Classic FICO is the only eligible model for that loan under current Fannie Mae rules.
Do not treat a VantageScore from a consumer app as the mortgage score. Consumer-facing VantageScore products and the tri-bureau VantageScore 4.0 requested by a mortgage lender are not the same run. The mortgage score is generated at application, from the lender’s pull, under the lender’s model selection.
What the record actually supports
The FHFA approval is real and it is consequential for lender choice: every approved lender may now elect VantageScore 4.0 without prior written approval, and the upfront fees are aligned across the two models. But the record does not support a claim that any specific thin-file borrower’s odds improve. It supports a narrower, more useful claim: the model a lender runs is now a variable the borrower can ask about, and the underwriting path determines whether that variable is even in play. For a thin file, the first move is to find out what is reporting and which model is reading it — not to assume the newer model will find what the bureaus never received.
FAQ
Does every lender now use VantageScore 4.0? No. Use is optional. Lenders may continue to use Classic FICO, and the FHFA states Classic FICO remains approved with no announced retirement date.
Can I request VantageScore 4.0 for my loan? You can ask, but the lender decides which model to run. The same model must be used for all borrowers on the loan, and VantageScore 4.0 is not eligible for manually underwritten loans.
Will my rent payments now count? Only if they are furnished in a form the model accepts. FHFA says the newer models include rent, utility, and telecom payment history when available. Availability depends on furnishing, not on the model’s capability.
Is FICO 10T available? Not for delivery. The FHFA states FICO 10T is not currently eligible for delivery, and the Enterprises will provide guidance when it becomes available.
Does the model choice change my rate? The Enterprises aligned upfront fees across Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0 on September 30, 2026, establishing a consistent pricing approach for loans delivered using either model. The model choice is not, on its face, a pricing lever between the two.
Where can I read the primary rules? The FHFA credit score policy page at fhfa.gov/policy/credit-scores and Fannie Mae’s credit score models page at singlefamily.fanniemae.com/originating-underwriting/credit-score-models carry the operative language on lender choice, the manual-underwriting carve-out, and delivery requirements.
