March 20, 2006

Concerning VantageScore from the bureaus.....

Since many of you have asked about VantageScore, I have the responses I received from Fannie and Freddie listed below.

• FANNIE MAE:" At this time, we have no plans to switch to this new score for our credit evaluation purposes.  The credit repositories are just beginning to talk with us and other industry participants about the new credit score, so it is too early to speculate about what we may do.  However, we will work with the repositories and our industry partners to test the effectiveness and predictive ability of the score.  Finally, please note that Desktop Underwriter's credit assessment is based on a proprietary Fannie Mae model, not on FICO scores."

• FREDDIE MAC: "At this time, Freddie Mac has no immediate comment on the use of the VantageScore credit scoring methodology.  As we learn more details from the repositories, we’ll determine our next steps, as appropriate.  We presently do not have any plans to use VantageScore in Loan Prospector or anticipate any changes to Loan Prospector based upon the availability of VantageScore."

For more info, check  www.vantagescore.com/faq.html