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NAFCU, along with trades representing the financial services and housing industries, wrote to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt requesting more time to review and comment on the impact credit scores have on access to mortgage credit.

NAFCU supports regulatory and legislative efforts to allow for the consideration and use of alternative models in order to bring more competition among credit score providers in the mortgage market; doing so will help unbanked and underbanked consumers.

Last month, the FHFA published a request for input on whether to change the current credit score requirements for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Comments are currently due to the FHFA by Feb. 20.

In the letter sent to Watt Friday, the trade groups noted that credit scores are used by various entities, not just the GSEs.

"As such, changes to Enterprise credit score requirements could have widely-felt implications for borrower access to credit, origination costs in the primary mortgage market, the ability to fully analyze and properly price mortgage credit risk, and liquidity in the secondary mortgage market," the letter states.

Recognizing the challenges of updating credit score requirements, the groups requested an extended comment period on the agency's request "in order to provide more thorough and comprehensive responses."

The letter also asks that the GSEs' empirical evaluations of the credit score models being considered be released so stakeholders can better analyze the proposed options.

NAFCU sent a Regulatory Alert to member credit unions earlier this month requesting feedback on the four credit score options the FHFA is considering; today is the last day for credit unions to submit comments to the association.

More information about the agency's request and NAFCU's efforts is available here.