FICO Score 10 Suite: A 2020 Credit Score Announcement
Historical note: This article records an announcement from January 2020. It is not a statement that a particular credit-score model will be used for your mortgage application today. For current home-purchase planning, see our purchase mortgage guide.
What FICO announced in 2020
On January 23, 2020, FICO announced its FICO Score 10 Suite, including FICO Score 10 and FICO Score 10 T. The 10 T model uses a history of credit-account information, such as balances over time, in addition to data considered by traditional scores. FICO said the suite would become available to lenders later that year.
FICO also said its analysis indicated a lender could reduce defaults on newly originated mortgage loans by as much as 17% compared with the FICO score version then used in the mortgage industry. That was FICO’s modeled potential, not a measured reduction in defaults across NorthStar Funding loans or all mortgages. A credit score is one input in an underwriting decision; the loan program, property, income, assets, debts, and other requirements also matter. Read the original FICO announcement for the context of its claim.
What changed after the announcement
In 2022, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) validated and approved FICO Score 10T and VantageScore 4.0 for eventual use with loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Approval of a model and eligibility to deliver a loan using it are different steps.
As of October 2026, FHFA says eligible loans may be delivered using Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 under the applicable Enterprise requirements. FICO Score 10T remains approved but is not yet eligible for loan delivery to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. FHFA says it will provide further guidance before that changes. See FHFA’s current credit-score policy page for the latest status.
If you are preparing to buy a home, ask which score and loan-program requirements apply to your situation; a consumer score you see elsewhere may differ from a score obtained for mortgage underwriting. Contact NorthStar Funding with general questions, and do not send Social Security numbers or bank-account details through the contact form. Nothing here guarantees an approval, rate, or loan term.