Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) Fannie Mae employs an automated Desktop Underwriter (DU) system. Now, with a recent change in policy, lenders will face one less hurdle in giving loans out processed through the system.
Previously, the DU system required that a borrower have a minimum credit score of 620 (or a cumulative minimum of 620 for multiple borrowers). This minimum credit score requirement has been lifted and, effective Sunday, November 16, 2025, there will no longer be a minimum credit score for DU-processed loans.
The announcement comes nestled within Fannie Mae’s nearly 1,200-page November 2025 Selling Guide, which updated the agency’s guidelines. Fannie Mae also released a specific statement announcing and outlining the mechanics of the DU credit score requirement, along with a few other changes.
According to this statement, the DU program will now rely on a more “comprehensive analysis” of a borrower’s risk factor. Lifting the credit requirement in DU comes off another change that makes Fannie and Freddie less reliant on the traditional FICO credit scoring system; as of July 2025, the GSEs have permitted lenders to use the VantageScore credit scoring system.
The VantageScore is considered more “inclusive” by some because it accounts for a borrowers’ rental payment history, if the history has been reported to one of the three major credit bureaus. In September 2025, National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Chief Economist Lawrence Yun predicted this change would lead to more first-time homebuyers entering the market.
Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that oversees Fannie and its fellow GSE Freddie Mac, posted on X about the update, saying that:
“Our underwriting standards are the same. As a process matter, to ensure two scores can be used and not just one, we eliminated (the) requirement for FICO in the infamous ‘guide.’ Big deal for consumers. Small or nothing deal for underwriting.”
The Trump administration has said its goal is to end the government conservatorship of both Fannie and Freddie, including plans for initial public offering (IPO) to investors.
