Director Thompson outlines FHFA’s efforts to promote housing access and affordability

Federal Issues FHFA Credit Scores Appraisal

On April 18, Sandra L. Thompson, Director of the FHFA, addressed the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, emphasizing FHFA’s role in promoting access to affordable housing for homebuyers and renters nationwide through the regulation and supervision of its regulated entities—Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Bank System—to ensure they meet their housing mission. Acknowledging the reforms implemented by FHFA over the past 15 years, which have strengthened the financial conditions of regulated entities, and FHFA’s ongoing review of the FHLBank System, Thompson outlined the agency’s efforts to address barriers to affordable and sustainable housing. Her recommendations include amending the Bank Act to expand the range of member institutions eligible to pledge community financial institution (CFI) collateral in order to secure affordable FHLBank advances to include all Community Development Financial Institutions and credit union members, and increasing the statutorily required minimum funding contribution for the Affordable Housing Program from 10 percent to at least 20 percent of FHLBank net income from the previous year. Thompson further highlighted FHFA’s efforts to address appraisal bias and improve data to promote equitable valuations, reduce costs associated with title verification, and codify the requirements that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintain Equitable Housing Finance Plans, among other initiatives. Thompson concluded her remarks by discussing FHFA’s ongoing credit score initiative, which seeks to transition Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s use of Classic FICO to the use of the more inclusive FICO 10T and VantageScore 4.0 models, alongside shifting from tri-merge to bi-merge credit reports.