WASHINGTON (September 22, 2026) — As federal regulators open the market for credit scoring to more competition, a new report from the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) warns that the country may be trading one noncompetitive market for another. VantageScore is now a rival to the market incumbent, FICO. But competition advocates and even the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) have raised the concern that VantageScore is owned by the three credit rating agencies (CRAs) that control the consumer data that every credit score is based on.
Authored by Diana Moss, Vice President and Director of Competition Policy at PPI, “The Credit Scoring Market: A Policy Framework for Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers” examines the state of competition in credit scoring, the role of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and past and potential future antitrust concerns. It concludes by laying out a regulatory and antitrust framework for protecting competition and consumers.
The U.S. credit scoring market is expected to top $26 billion this year and reach $41 billion by 2030. Credit scores are hugely important. They can determine whether Americans can buy or rent a home, finance a car, and even the interest rates and credit limits they qualify for. Housing alone accounts for a third of average annual consumer spending. Lending decisions — which are in no small part determined by consumer creditworthiness — are a major driver of access to housing.
PPI’s report finds that competition between FICO and VantageScore 4.0 is producing more product differentiation and opportunity to compare scores. However, as VantageScore expands, regulators, lawmakers, and antitrust enforcers cannot ignore that it is jointly owned by Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. This means that the CRAs/VantageScore have exclusive control over the credit report data that FICO, and any future competitors, need to generate credit scores.
The report unpacks how this control comes with potential incentives to shape competition by frustrating access to essential data, and its impact on lenders and consumers. PPI also flags FHFA’s process, including what appears to be a slow-rolled approval of FICO’s newest model, FICO 10T, even as the agency moved quickly on VantageScore 4.0.
“Injecting competition in credit scoring is a worthy goal, but competition isn’t guaranteed just because a new player shows up,” said Moss. “When that player owns the data its only competitor needs to operate, regulators and enforcers have to watch closely. Swapping a market controlled by one firm for one where a dominant player controls a critical input is not a recipe for healthy competition.”
To safeguard competition and protect consumers, the report calls on policymakers to:
Require FHFA to issue periodic reports tracking key competition metrics in the credit scoring market.
Have FHFA solicit public comment on developing alternative sources of consumer credit data to break the credit bureaus’ control of this critical bottleneck.
Hold congressional hearings on FHFA’s process for approving competing models, including its handling of FICO 10T and proposed reductions in the number of credit reports required for a mortgage.
Keep the Department of Justice alert to anticompetitive conduct and, if evidence of consumer harm emerges, pursue separating VantageScore from the credit bureaus, a remedy Congress could also enact.
Launch a Federal Trade Commission study under Section 6(b) to establish a baseline for competition in credit scoring and anticipate problems as the market evolves.
Moss concludes that challenging an entrenched incumbent is sound public policy, but that a fair competitive process, not simply a second competitor, is what ultimately delivers lower prices, more choice and better access to credit for American consumers.
Read and download the report here.
Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us at @ppi.
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Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org
