FICO has introduced a program that lets mortgage lenders bypass working with credit bureaus. With the FICO Mortgage Direct License Program, tri-merge resellers — mortgage specialists — can now calculate and distribute FICO Scores directly to their customers, eliminating reliance on the three credit bureaus. “This shift will drive price transparency and immediate cost savings to mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, and other industry participants,” FICO (Fair Isaac Corp) said in a news release. Federal housing regulators have pushed to lower the cost of pulling credit scores to help home buyers as the market reaches historically unaffordable positions. His agency had allowed lenders to use rival VantageScore, which was created by the credit bureaus, for government-backed mortgages.