6 min read ยท Last updated October 19, 2026
- Since April 22, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have accepted VantageScore 4.0 from approved lenders for conventional mortgages. FICO 10T is moving through lenders’ selling guides but the announcement does not say loans scored with it are being accepted yet.
- VantageScore 4.0 has excluded all medical collection debt, regardless of amount or age, since early 2023. Older FICO models still count some of it.
- A credit card or auto lender is almost certainly still pulling a FICO Bankcard or FICO Auto Score built on an older base, not VantageScore 4.0 or FICO 10T.
- Fixing a factor the mortgage models reward, like unreported rent, does nothing for a card or auto application pulling a different score entirely.
In this article
- What changed in 2026, and what didn’t
- Credit cards and auto loans are a different scoring world
- The order to fix the credit score your lender actually pulls
- Frequently asked questions
A mortgage lender working a conventional loan in late 2026 can pull VantageScore 4.0, which Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have accepted from approved lenders since April 22, 2026, or stick with Classic FICO. A credit card issuer or an auto lender the same week is almost certainly still pulling a FICO Bankcard Score or FICO Auto Score built on an older base, a model that never adopted either of the features people are excited about in the mortgage news.
Say a reader named Marcus is shopping for both a mortgage preapproval and a car loan in the same month. He checks his VantageScore through a free app, sees it jumped after his medical collection dropped off, and assumes both lenders will see the same improvement. They will not, and the gap between what he checked and what each lender actually pulls determines which fix is worth his time first.
What changed in 2026, and what didn’t
On April 22, 2026, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were moving forward with VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T, updating their selling guides and immediately accepting VantageScore-scored loans from approved lenders. The release does not say loans scored with FICO 10T are being accepted the same way, so a mortgage lender today is effectively choosing between VantageScore 4.0 and Classic FICO, with 10T still moving through the guide-update process behind it.
VantageScore 4.0 counts on-time rent and utility payments toward your score, but only when a company actually reports that data to the three credit bureaus, which most landlords and utilities still do not do on their own. The model also eliminated all medical collection debt from its calculation in early 2023, “regardless of the amount owed or the age of the collection.” Classic FICO and the older FICO 8 and 9 models still count some unpaid medical collections, just with less weight than other collection types, which is why Marcus’s VantageScore moved and his FICO Bankcard Score barely budged.
FICO’s own treatment of medical debt is a separate, narrower fix, not a removal. FICO Score 9 and later ignore a collection entirely once it is paid, and weigh an unpaid medical collection less heavily than an unpaid non-medical one, but an unpaid medical collection can still drag on a FICO-based score the way it no longer can on VantageScore 4.0. FICO 10T adds its own trended-data view of 24 months of account behavior and can factor in rental payment history the same way VantageScore 4.0 does, but only to the extent a landlord actually reports it, and only once lenders actually start pulling 10T for real decisions.
Credit cards and auto loans are a different scoring world
VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T were built and approved specifically for the mortgage pipeline. A card issuer or an auto lender has no FHFA mandate pushing them toward either model, and most still pull an industry-specific FICO score, such as a FICO Bankcard Score or FICO Auto Score, that is closer in design to FICO Score 8 than to the newer trended-data models. Rent reporting and the medical-collection change can genuinely help a mortgage application while doing nothing measurable for a card or auto application pulling a different scorecard entirely.
The order to fix the credit score your lender actually pulls
- Mortgage soon. Confirm any medical collections have actually dropped off all three bureau files, since the VantageScore change does not erase them from your report, only from the calculation. Then check whether your rent is reported anywhere; if not, a rent-reporting service can add it before you apply, not after.
- Card or auto loan soon. Skip the rent and medical-collection chase. Focus on utilization under 30 percent and no late payment in the last 24 months, since those are the factors an industry-specific FICO score weighs heaviest regardless of which newer model exists.
- Both, like Marcus. Work the mortgage-specific fixes first if the mortgage application is further out, since rent reporting takes a reporting cycle to show up. Work utilization down immediately for the nearer-term auto application, since that moves faster on any model.
Marcus’s actual numbers: his auto loan application is three weeks out and his mortgage preapproval is four months out. He puts $380 toward his highest-utilization card this week, dropping that card from 71 percent to 34 percent utilization before the auto application, and signs up for rent reporting this month so three months of on-time payments are on file by the time he applies for the mortgage.
| Score model | Counts rent/utility data | Live for mortgages now | Used for cards or auto loans |
|---|---|---|---|
| VantageScore 4.0 | Yes, if reported | Yes, since April 2026 | Rarely |
| FICO 10T | Yes, if reported | In lenders’ selling guides, not yet accepting loans | No |
| Classic FICO | No | Yes, still the default option | No |
| FICO Bankcard / Auto Score | No | Not used for mortgages | Yes, the common pull |
| Best for | Checking which row matches your loan type before you spend time fixing the wrong factor | ||
Frequently asked questions
Is VantageScore 4.0 used by every mortgage lender now? No. Only approved lenders in the current rollout can choose it, and they can still use Classic FICO instead. Ask your loan officer directly which model they pull before assuming either way.
Does paying off a medical collection help my credit score? On VantageScore 4.0, medical collections are already excluded regardless of payment status. On older FICO models, paying it off can still help, since those models weigh unpaid collections more heavily than paid ones.
Why does the number in my free credit app not match what my lender pulled? Free apps usually show a VantageScore 3.0 or 4.0 pulled from one bureau, while your lender may pull a different model, a different bureau, or an industry-specific version built for their loan type.
Will reporting my rent help if I am applying for a car loan? Probably not. Most auto lenders still pull a FICO Auto Score that does not use rent data at all. Rent reporting is a mortgage-specific move for now.
When will FICO 10T actually be used for mortgages? As of the April 2026 FHFA announcement, FICO 10T was being added to lenders’ selling guides, but the announcement does not say loans scored with it are being accepted yet. Check with a current lender for the latest status before assuming it is already in use.
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