“Our underwriting standards are the same,” Pulte said in an X post. “As a process matter, to ensure two scores can be used and not just one, we eliminated requirement for FICO in the infamous “guide”. Big deal for consumers. Small or nothing deal for underwriting.”
Instead of relying on a hard credit score cutoff, DU will now evaluate a broader set of credit risk factors, including a borrower’s credit history, income, debt levels, property characteristics, and loan purpose.
“The DU risk assessment reflects a comprehensive evaluation of credit risk factors from the borrower’s credit report along with non-credit risk factors from the loan application,” Fannie Mae stated in its release notes.
“The minimum representative credit score requirement of 620 will be removed for new loan casefiles created on or after Nov. 16, 2025. This requirement will be replaced with a minimum credit risk standard based on the credit risk factor evaluation within the DU credit risk assessment.”
Fannie Mae’s move follows Freddie Mac, which previously eliminated its own minimum score for loan approvals. However, Fannie Mae clarified that lenders must still request credit scores for all borrowers, as required for loan sales, and certain loan types or private mortgage insurers may continue to impose their own minimums.