#611
Score Wars
Published:
Oct 04, 2025
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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For decades, getting a mortgage credit score has required an oddly complex dance: FICO makes the algorithm, credit bureaus own the data, and resellers stitch it together – adding markups at every step. This week, FICO decided to cut out the middlemen.
By offering to sell scores directly to mortgage resellers at $4.95 per score – the same price it charges bureaus, but without their markup – FICO triggered an immediate market reaction. Shares of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion dropped as much as 11%, while FICO jumped 18%. The old guard just learned their markup was negotiable.
The timing isn’t coincidental. With regulators branding FICO a monopoly and pushing for lower mortgage costs, the company needed a move that looked like reform without surrendering control. The new model also includes a $33 closing fee per bureau on top of the initial score price – adding $99 for a single-borrower mortgage, since lenders must still pull from all three bureaus. The actual savings remain unclear. The bureaus still control the data. Resellers still need to overhaul their systems.
What’s clear is that regulatory pressure cracked open a system that hasn’t shifted in decades. Whether it leads to real competition or just shuffles the deck depends on how the bureaus and resellers respond – and whether cost savings materialize beyond the press release.
Portfolio News
FICO shakes up credit-score market - Fair Isaac is upending the credit-scoring industry by giving mortgage lenders a way to get its credit scores without buying them from Experian, Equifax or TransUnion. The change is among the biggest shake-ups to the credit-scoring system in decades, reflecting regulatory scrutiny in the second Trump administration. Earlier this year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency authorized lenders to use FICO rival VantageScore—built by the three credit bureaus—for government-backed mortgages, challenging FICO’s monopoly over the $13t mortgage market for the first time. Read more
New approach to credit scoring data could reshape US home lending - The US company behind Fico homebuyer credit scores revealed plans to sell its ratings directly to industry data companies, thumping the shares of the credit bureaus that typically sell their widely watched numbers. Read more
Industry News
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JP Morgan says stablecoin market grows 42% post-GENIUS Act - The stablecoin market is reportedly outgrowing the larger cryptocurrency sector following recent U.S. legislation. That’s according to a report Tuesday by CoinDesk, citing findings from J.P. Morgan that showed that the $300b stablecoin market has grown 42% so far this year, double the 21% growth in the overall crypto market. Circle’s USDC seems to be the biggest beneficiary, the analysts said. Read more
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Hedge-fund stars are making so much now that they are hiring agents - Top hedge-fund recruits are getting hounded with job offers that would pay them like Hollywood stars or pro athletes. So why don’t they also have agents representing them? That’s the idea Ryan Walsh had about a year ago when he launched a talent agency dedicated to stock pickers, bond traders and other investment professionals that he believes is the first of its kind. Read more
Robo-adviser Wealthfront files for IPO showing profit decline - The Palo Alto, California-based company had net income of $60.7m on revenue of $175.6m for the six months ended July 31, compared with net income of $132.3m on revenue of $145.9m a year earlier. The potential listing would follow those of fintech companies Klarna and Chime Financial that moved ahead with IPOs in recent months as the market recovered from disruption over the Trump Administration’s tariff policies. Read more
Swift adding blockchain-based shared ledger to infrastructure - Swift announced that it will add a blockchain-based shared ledger to its technology infrastructure, a pivotal step for global finance that promises to make instant, always-on cross-border transactions possible at unprecedented scale. Swift already has kicked off work with a group of more than 30 financial institutions globally to design and build the ledger, focused on a first use case of real-time 24/7 cross-border payments and starting with a conceptual prototype by Consensys. Read more
Bank of England head has change of heart on stablecoins - Writing in the FT this week, Andrew Bailey said it would be “wrong to be against stablecoins as a matter of principle,” while arguing for their potential for “driving innovation in payments systems both at home and across borders.” Read more
Select Financings
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Optimuse - Belgium based provider of construction software to design efficient buildings raised €4m in Seed funding led by Seed + Speed Ventures and Blum Ventures. Read more
Paid - London based provider of billing solutions for agent-makers raised $21.6m in Seed funding led by Lightspeed. Read more
Remitee - Buenos Aires based remittance infrastructure provider raised $20m in new funding led by Krealo. Read more
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