Experian announced enhancements to its award-winning Power Profile Plus for Mortgage solution, giving lenders and loan officers new ways to reduce early-stage credit costs while retaining the speed, simplicity, and score flexibility needed to support consumers on their path to homeownership. The update centers on the earliest phase of the mortgage journey, before a lender commits to a hard credit pull.

Power Profile Plus delivers a full Experian credit profile together with VantageScore 4.0 through a soft inquiry, providing lenders with comprehensive credit insight and a score upfront without requiring a hard inquiry at the beginning of the mortgage process. Soft inquiries, unlike hard inquiries, do not affect a consumer's credit scores, a distinction that carries particular weight at this early stage, when a lender's assessment is still taking shape and follow-up reviews may be needed before any hard pull occurs. With the latest enhancements, lenders can now request unlimited eligible follow-up soft inquiries during the application and qualification period and add additional scores at their discretion, all without an additional Experian credit-profile charge.

“As the mortgage industry expands its use of modern credit scores, our focus is on making that transition cost-effective and easy to implement,” said Michele Bodda, Group President of Experian Housing, Verification Solutions and Employer Services. “Our clients have told us they need a full credit profile and a score up front to assess consumers quickly and confidently. Experian's Power Profile Plus enhancements deliver decision-ready insights while lowering early-stage costs. This creates a simpler path to VantageScore adoption and helps lenders make more-informed decisions that can ultimately support more consumers on the path to homeownership.”

The Enhanced Power Profile Plus Workflow

Experian describes the enhanced solution as a straightforward mortgage credit journey:

• Start with the full Experian credit profile and VantageScore 4.0. The information is delivered through a soft inquiry, allowing the lender to assess the consumer before any move to a hard inquiry.
• Revisit the profile as needed. Lenders may request unlimited eligible follow-up soft inquiries during the application and qualification period without incurring another Experian credit-profile charge.
• Evaluate the FICO Score 2 as needed. If a lender chooses to assess a FICO Score, the applicable score charge applies, but Experian does not charge again for the underlying credit profile.
• Move forward when ready. When borrower and lender are ready to proceed, the lender can move from a soft inquiry to a hard inquiry and continue toward underwriting. Standard hard-pull credit-report and score pricing applies.

Supporting the Shift to Modern Mortgage Scoring

The announcement follows the Federal Housing Finance Agency's expansion of VantageScore 4.0 availability to all approved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the government-sponsored enterprises that buy mortgages from lenders and guarantee them for investors, and FHFA is the regulator that oversees both companies, a position that makes their scoring policies consequential across the market. Legacy FICO models have anchored mortgage credit evaluation for decades, which is why the arrival of a GSE-accepted modern alternative carries weight for lenders weighing a transition. That change gives more lenders the opportunity to evaluate modern scoring models as the mortgage industry works to improve affordability, expand score choice, and responsibly broaden access to homeownership.

A Consumer-Friendly Experience

The Power Profile Plus enhancements come as consumers increasingly expect lenders to consider a broader picture of their financial lives. Experian research found that one-third of consumers would actively seek out a new lender if they learned their current lender relied on legacy credit-scoring models that do not incorporate rent and utility payments, while 52% said they would be more interested in pursuing homeownership if lenders considered additional positive payment history when evaluating mortgage applications.

By allowing lenders to assess consumers using the full Experian credit profile through a soft inquiry, Power Profile Plus can help consumers explore mortgage eligibility and potential options without beginning the process with a hard inquiry, while enabling lenders to work more effectively with borrowers during the qualification period.

Expanding Lender Choice While Managing Costs

Experian's broader mortgage scoring strategy gives lenders additional ways to manage costs and evaluate modern scoring models. VantageScore 4.0 is available as a standalone mortgage origination score for $0.99. In addition, through the Experian Score Choice Bundle, lenders can access VantageScore 4.0 and FICO Score 2 in a single transaction, with VantageScore 4.0 available at no cost when a FICO Score is obtained in 2026. Because the bundle delivers both scores in a single transaction, the 2026 terms also give lenders a practical way to compare the two models' outputs on the same credit profile. The standalone and bundle options are designed to give lenders more flexibility in how they order and pay for credit scores during origination.

According to Experian, the enhancements are intended to create a simpler path to modern score adoption, lower costs at the earliest stages of the lending process, and give both lenders and consumers greater flexibility as they move toward homeownership. With FHFA access expanded and the 2026 bundle terms set, how lenders put this flexibility to work is the near-term development to watch in mortgage credit scoring.