You just got a dated beat for your first-time buyer content! FHA published Mortgagee Letter 2026-11 yesterday, formally adding VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T as acceptable credit score models alongside Classic FICO for FHA case numbers assigned on or after January 1, 2027. FHA is also holding daily virtual office hours for lenders from November 16 through 20. Earlier this week we covered UWM and Pennymac moving to VantageScore on their own menus; this is the government side catching up, with a specific start date you can build a content calendar around. Keep the message to what FHA actually announced: which score models are accepted and when. The letter's methodology decides how scores are applied on each file, so save the "what it means for your score" conversation for the one-on-one.
The rate backdrop makes this the right audience. Bankrate's conventional 30-year is at 7.54%, a hundredth under the top of its 90-day range of 6.58% to 7.55%, and Freddie Mac's PMMS rose for a seventh straight week to 7.40%. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said Thursday he anticipates additional hikes, so there is no rate relief to market this month. Bankrate's FHA 30-year reads 7.23%, 31 bps under conventional, which on a $400,000 loan is about $2,723 a month in principal and interest against about $2,808, before mortgage insurance. For a buyer weighing programs, that gap plus a clear credit conversation is a better reason to call you than a rate headline.
The other story worth acting on is on the agent side. eXp Realty and Newrez announced Revenos Mortgage, a joint venture slated to go live in early 2027. If you work with eXp agents, now is when to deepen those relationships, before an in-house option arrives. A co-branded one-page FHA explainer, covering the January 1 score change, today's FHA payment on a typical price point in their market, and your direct line, gives an agent something useful to hand their buyers and keeps your name on it.
Record a 30-second video explaining what FHA's January 1 credit score change is, post it, and send it to your three most active agent partners with an offer to co-brand it for their buyers!