What's on the table
On Oct 19, FHFA Director Bill Pulte said on X that the agency is looking at requiring one or two credit reports instead of three on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, and that a decision on loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs) should come before year-end (reported by ABA Banking Journal). As of Oct 30 nothing has been finalized.
What an LLPA is
LLPAs are upfront fees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge on a loan based on its risk, mostly credit score and loan-to-value. Lenders pass them through as points or as a slightly higher rate. They're published in the agencies' pricing matrices, so a change is visible line by line.
How it reaches you
A cut to an LLPA lowers the cost of one loan profile, for example a 680 score with 10% down. It doesn't change the 10-year Treasury, and the 10-year is what moves the national average Freddie Mac's PMMS reports each Thursday. That's why we score these headlines near 0 bps for the weekly average while they can still matter to a single borrower's quote.
Credit reports
Going from three bureaus to one or two would trim a closing-cost line item. It's a fee, not a rate.
What to do
Price today's file on today's pricing. If an LLPA change lands, reprice; nobody should pass on a deal that works now because of a maybe. RateScore estimate for this week's PMMS: about 0 bps.