AMBA Monday Morning News - Week of April 27th, 2026 
Message from the Board
Fellow Alaska mortgage banking professionals,
Late April in Alaska carries a kind of energy that is hard to describe to someone who has never lived here. The daylight is lasting longer, the mountains are holding onto the last of their snow, and you can feel the housing season pressing forward. Buyers who spent the winter watching and waiting are starting to move. That is not a forecast. It is already happening.
This week brought some of the most consequential federal action on mortgage credit scoring in decades. It brought encouraging rate data. It brought application numbers that signal genuine momentum. The pieces are adding up in ways that should make every Alaska mortgage professional sit up a little straighter.
What this work has always required is showing up prepared for your clients at exactly the right moment. That moment, for a lot of the buyers in your pipeline, is now. Read through this week's news, think about who in your database needs to hear from you today, and go have those conversations. The data says the conditions are there. The rest is up to us.
Benjamin Reynolds - AMBA President
Thank you to the sponsor of our Monday Morning News
Next Luncheon!
May '26 Luncheon - Membership Meeting, Elections, and Season Wrap-up
Join AMBA for our May Luncheon including our Membership Meeting, Elections, and Season Wrap-up
Luncheon Schedule:
Doors Open at 11:30 AM
Food Served at 11:45 AM
Meeting Starts at 12:00 PM
Meeting Ends at 1:00 PM
Reminder!!!
All member companies and employees have been added and have an account created. Login using your company email and, if this is your first time logging in, select the "Forgot Password" option to update your password. If there are any issues with logging in, please contact us at [email protected] or Benjamin Reynolds at [email protected].
This Month's Meeting Sponsor:
VENUE SPONSOR:
TBD
Catering SPONSOR:
TBD
Virtual Meeting SPONSOR
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News From Last Week
CALL For Responses - HB 254: 5% Tax Assessed Value Cap Survey
- Reduces unexpected escrow shortages caused by sharp year-over-year assessment jumps, particularly in Anchorage where some assessments have risen 10–25% in a single year
- Helps homeowners — especially seniors on fixed incomes — budget more predictably and stay in their homes longer
- May reduce the frequency of tax-driven distressed sales or HELOC draws for escrow shortfalls
- Gives borrowers more payment stability, which could support healthier loan performance
- Assessed values that are capped will increasingly diverge from market values over time, particularly in high-appreciation markets like Anchorage
- For HELOCs, refinances, and certain equity-based lending decisions, lenders sometimes use assessed value as an informal data point — a growing gap between assessed and market value reduces its usefulness and may require more borrower education
- New buyers will pay taxes based on market value while long-term neighbors pay on suppressed values — this inequity can affect neighborhood comparables and buyer perception of affordability
- Municipalities may compensate for capped revenue by raising mill rates, which could offset any tax relief to homeowners
- The bill lacks a sale-triggered reassessment, meaning the divergence from market value compounds over time and cannot be corrected until physical improvements are made
The full legislative text can be found here: https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/?Root=HB%20254#tab6_4
-->COMPLETE THE SURVEY HERE<--
Nominate an Individual or Company for AMBA's Inauguaral Community IMpact Award
The Alaska Mortgage Bankers Association Community Impact Award recognizes an AMBA member — individual or company — who has gone above and beyond to strengthen Alaska's communities through charitable giving, volunteerism, housing access, civic leadership, or other meaningful contributions. Nominations are reviewed by the AMBA Board of Directors, and the award is presented at our annual May meeting. We encourage you to nominate someone who exemplifies the best of our industry and our state.
Board nominations for the 2026-2027 Season Are Open
2026-2027 Board Nominations are officially open. Voting will occur at our May Luncheon. Nominations for all positions will be accepted. President, VP, Secretary, and Treasurer positions are limited to Regular members, while Director positions are open to Regular and Affiliate Members. The current incumbents seeking re-election are:
President - Benjamin Reynolds - Cook Inlet Lending Center
Vice President - Sharon Seymour - Leading Edge Lending
Treasurer - Deborah Manfred - Credit Union 1
Secretary - Seat Open
Director (3 Seats Available):
Brad Kiefer - Alaska Commercial Loan Brokers
Stephanie Eddy - AHFC
Seat Open
-->SUBMIT BOARD NOMINATIONS HERE<---
FHFA AND HUD ANNOUNCE VANTAGESCORE 4.0 AND FICO 10T FOR GSE AND FHA LOANS -- THE BIGGEST CREDIT SCORE CHANGE IN DECADES
In a joint press conference on April 22, FHFA Director William Pulte and HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA are moving into active implementation of VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 10T as eligible credit scoring models for mortgage underwriting. According to the FHFA press release, this marks the first time in decades that the agencies have moved away from exclusive reliance on Classic FICO, a model that has dominated mortgage underwriting since the 1990s. The announcement advances the full implementation of the Credit Score Competition Act of 2018 and was framed by regulators as a direct effort to lower costs for borrowers and expand access to homeownership.
The rollout is phased. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac immediately updated their selling guides and began accepting VantageScore 4.0 loans through a limited pilot program open to 21 approved lenders. Lenders not in that initial group must continue using Classic FICO tri-merge credit reports until they receive approval or VantageScore 4.0 becomes broadly available. Alaska lenders should contact their Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac representative now to express interest in the program. FICO 10T adoption for GSE loans comes in a later phase, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac expected to publish historical FICO 10T credit score data this summer in advance of that rollout. HUD indicated at the April 22 announcement that FHA expects to permit both models within the next few months, with a formal implementation timeline to follow.
What makes these newer models different from Classic FICO matters for your clients. Both VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T incorporate trended credit data, analyzing 24 or more months of payment behavior rather than a single point-in-time snapshot. They also can incorporate on-time rent and utility payment history when that data is present in the credit file, which Classic FICO does not. According to FHFA, both models were validated and approved for use by the GSEs back in 2022 and underwent rigorous testing against accuracy, reliability, and integrity thresholds before being cleared. Proponents, including the MBA, have called the change a long-overdue step toward greater competition in the credit score market, where FICO has historically held a near-monopoly and has raised its pricing significantly over the past several years.
Classic FICO remains an approved model and will continue to be accepted. This is not a replacement -- it is an expansion. Lenders will now have choices, and that choice will ultimately benefit borrowers.
Alaska Impact: This development is worth your full attention. Alaska's mortgage market includes a meaningful share of buyers who carry strong payment histories but thin or unconventional credit profiles -- rural residents who have rented for years, first-time buyers who pay utilities and rent reliably but have limited installment credit, and borrowers who have recovered from past credit events but whose trended behavior tells a better story than their static score. Under VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, some of those clients will score differently, and some will qualify who previously could not. This is not a guarantee of approval -- creditworthiness still matters -- but it is a real expansion of who can get to the closing table. Start identifying clients in your pipeline who may benefit from rescoring under the new models, and stay close to your AUS systems as the GSEs update their guidelines.
Welcome New Members!
AMBA welcomes all Alaska mortgage banking professionals to join our growing community. Membership provides access to industry advocacy, professional development opportunities, networking events, and regular market intelligence updates tailored specifically to Alaska's unique market conditions.
2025-2026 Membership Benefits Include:
- Voice in state legislative advocacy through our new Legislative Affairs Committee
- Monthly educational sessions and industry updates
- Professional networking opportunities with Alaska mortgage banking leaders
- Access to Alaska-specific market data and trends
- Discounted rates for industry events and conferences
Contact AMBA at (907) 727-1076 or [email protected] to learn about Regular, Affiliate, Non-Profit, and Individual membership options. Visit alaskamba.org for complete membership information and dues structure. Join us in advancing Alaska's mortgage banking industry!
New Job Posts
Check out these careers!
Our Career Board is now available! Take a look at some of the new positions below:
Residential Lending Manager - Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union
POST YOUR JOB TODAY USING YOUR MEMBER ACCOUNT!
