Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte spoke with Fair Isaac CEO Will Lansing to demand greater competition in the credit scoring market to prevent what he called "abusive monopolies." Pulte stated that while the agency is working to ensure FICO Direct is approved, the company has refused to provide the FHFA with pricing information for its FICO 10T score. The agency's goal is to force Fair Isaac and VantageScore to compete on a level playing field regardless of which provider wins the market share.

The pressure on FICO follows a regulatory shift requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use a unified mortgage pricing grid, which eliminates a 20 point disadvantage for VantageScore borrowers and gives lenders a $0.99 alternative to FICO's ~$10 score. Fair Isaac shares fell 27% on Sept. 29, the stock's worst single day since 1989, and is now down 64% for the year and more than 68% below its all-time high.