By Kelly Cloonan

Equifax said it's offering cheaper mortgage score prices after Fair Issac unveiled a plan to sell its credit scores directly to mortgage lenders and resellers, cutting credit bureaus out of the deal.

The data and technology company said Tuesday it will offer its VantageScore 4.0 mortgage credit scores for $4.50 through the end of 2027, less than half the price of the $10 score offered by FICO for 2026.

The move comes after Fair Isaac, which goes by the name FICO after its well-known credit score, said last week it is launching a direct licensing program to allow mortgage tri-merge resellers to calculate and distribute credit scores directly to customers without the help of the major nationwide credit bureaus Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Equifax Chief Executive Mark Begor said the company believes that the best way to drive change in the marketplace and lower costs for consumers is through open competition.

"Equifax plays an essential role in the financial lives of consumers and the mortgage industry, and we take that responsibility very seriously -- particularly in the most challenging mortgage and housing market in 20 years," Begor said.

Equifax will also offer free credit scores to all of its mortgage, automotive, card and consumer finance customers who purchase FICO scores for the remainder of 2025 and throughout 2026.

The move aims to make VantageScore more easily accessible for lenders to evaluate, and show the value of the score's inclusion of alternative data that is not included in traditional credit reports, the company said.

"More data drives better decisions and VantageScore 4.0 provides a fuller view of consumers' financial profiles," Begor said.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 07, 2025 17:04 ET (21:04 GMT)

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