FICO Launches Direct-to-Lender Credit Reporting Program

Streamlining distribution optimizes costs for both resellers and consumers, as well as increases transparency, FICO said.

A new program could potentially reshape the way mortgage lenders access customers’ credit scores. Casper1774 Studio/Shutterstock

Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO) of Bozeman, Montana, launched on Oct. 1 a program that could potentially reshape the way mortgage lenders access customers’ credit scores by sidestepping the country’s three primary credit-reporting agencies.

FICO’s mortgage direct licensing program allows “tri-merge resellers”—companies that bundle credit history data from Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian into a merged credit report—to bypass the credit-reporting bureaus and calculate and distribute FICO scores directly to mortgage lenders.