Federal housing agencies to allow alternate credit scores in mortgage applications [View all]

Source: Scripps News

Posted 6:28 PM, Apr 22, 2026


The Trump administration on Wednesday announced new policy changes intended to help more Americans access mortgage loans, as the cost of housing continues to climb and data shows first-time homeownership rates in the U.S. remain near historic lows.

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner said in a joint press conference Wednesday that their agencies would take steps to allow non-traditional credit scores to be used when considering mortgage applications, enabling “tens of millions” more Americans to qualify for loans previously out of reach, according to Pulte.

But such moves, long in the works, are likely to have much more limited effects than Trump officials say, experts told Scripps News, as the greatest barrier to homeownership remains the stubbornly-high cost.

“What is holding back a lot of folks from home ownership isn't the credit score, it's the price of buying a house,” Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy and acting co-director of federal advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), told Scripps News. “Until we can get the price of housing down… you're not going to get a whole wave of new home ownership.”

Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/housing/federal-housing-agencies-to-allow-alternate-credit-scores-in-mortgage-applications