MYTH or FACT
The only people who use your FICO® Score are mortgage lenders.
MYTH!
FICO Scores are relied on by lenders — but these same scores are essential to mortgage insurers, ratings agencies, regulators, investors and others — all to provide millions of Americans with homeownership.
After its initial use in origination, the FICO® Score is transmitted and leveraged throughout the mortgage credit ecosystem — from mortgage insurance, pricing and delivery, credit risk transfer and securitization, to ratings by credit rating agencies, servicing, risk management, investor disclosure, and regulatory and capital requirements.
FICO receives no incremental royalty for all these downstream uses beyond the few dollars per score collected for the origination use itself. The FICO® Score provides confidence, stability and efficiency throughout the mortgage market and it enhances market liquidity through securitization and loan sales. This in turn expands credit availability and lowers overall mortgage costs to households — all of which provides significant benefits to consumers, lenders and others in the marketplace.
