Equifax Inc saw its investment rating lowered by Oppenheimer analyst Rayna Kumar, who moved the stock from Outperform to Perform.

The downgrade marks a shift in the firm's stance on the credit reporting agency. No specific financial metrics or target price adjustments were disclosed in the brief note regarding the rationale behind the rating change.

Equifax Inc. has introduced Equifax Mortgage Score Select™, a new solution designed to provide mortgage lenders and brokers with greater flexibility and cost efficiency during loan origination.

The offering enables the mortgage industry to pull an Equifax mortgage credit file without a credit score or with a selected score, such as VantageScore® 4.0, Classic FICO®, or FICO® Score 10T when approved. This approach supports a dual-score environment while addressing operational needs.

Key features of the new solution

The solution addresses specific operational requirements for lenders:

• Flexible score selection: Lenders can choose which score accompanies the file or opt for no score at all.
• Cost-effective repulls: A second look at the mortgage credit file within 24 hours costs just $1, plus the cost of the selected score (if any).
• Single score per file: Each file has one accompanying score, ensuring clarity on which metric applies to the decision.

Strategic positioning for regulatory changes

This launch proactively positions lenders ahead of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) acceptance of VantageScore 4.0 for eligible mortgage loans, effective January 1, 2027. It also ensures compliance with current secondary market requirements regarding score usage.

Joel Rickman, General Manager & SVP, U.S. Mortgage and Verification Services, stated that the tool helps lenders achieve two key objectives: cost-effectively gaining access to more data to support lending decisions and qualifying more borrowers based on expanded data sets.

What the numbers show

The pricing structure highlights a strategic focus on volume and efficiency rather than per-unit margin maximization. By setting the repull fee at $1, Equifax lowers the barrier for lenders to re-evaluate files within a short window. This low-cost mechanism encourages higher transaction volumes from lenders who might otherwise avoid re-checking data due to cost constraints. The ability to pull files without a score further broadens the addressable market by decoupling the data utility from the scoring model choice.