Credit score reform could help 7.7M Americans qualify for a mortgage

What’s happening

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the two government-sponsored entities that buy and securitize most U.S. mortgages — are moving toward accepting VantageScore alongside the long-dominant FICO model, and toward giving more weight to verified rent-payment history. The net effect, according to industry estimates, could be around 7.7 million Americans newly qualifying for a conforming mortgage.

Why this matters if you’re buying

For Florida first-time buyers especially — many of whom moved here from out of state and have shorter local credit history — this is a meaningful change:

• A clean rent payment record may now help you. If you’ve paid your rent on time for two-plus years, that’s positive data your future lender can use.
• It may unlock conforming rates for buyers who previously had to use FHA. Conforming mortgages typically have lower mortgage insurance costs than FHA at similar credit profiles.
• Implementation is gradual. The changes are phasing in over 12-24 months. Ask your lender which scoring model and payment-history data they’re using now.

A pre-approval based on today’s rules and a pre-approval based on the new rules can be meaningfully different numbers. Worth re-running yours mid-2026.

Related FAQs

• Pre-qualified vs pre-approved
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