Rob Zimmer

Our @NBCNews graphics and data visualization teams have put together an in depth look at how last night's vote compares to Trump's ascendence to the presidency in 2024. nbcnews.com/

$FICO CEO just lost the plot on Q4 earnings call! “Ashish, I guess I can't blame you for asking the question, but maybe it's time for me just to explain a little bit of a change in philosophy and in how we talk about our pricing and our programs and so on. I know, I think you all know, it's no secret that transparency and detail on our programs and pricing have not been particularly helpful for FICO. We were of a view for many years that because the FICO score at $10 or $4.95 or whatever we were charging, was such a tiny fraction of overall closing costs, we really didn't think that the price was a very big deal. We thought that the value so far exceeded the price that why not share details around the pricing just so that everyone understands how little it is in the scheme of things? As you all know from watching events over the last several years, we've really been attacked for, you know, what we consider to be, you know, not very good reasons. We're attacked because we're transparent and clear about our score price. As you all know, the credit files cost a lot more, credit evaluation costs are much more. In fact, every other element of the closing is a lot more than what FICO charges. Yet somehow FICO has become the poster child for affordability in housing, which is just a crazy thing. Internally, we have had a lot of conversations about has this transparency been helpful, and the conclusion is no, it has not been helpful. I think you guys know that we have probably been in the top decile of open transparent, help everyone outside understand what we are doing inside, but it has not really worked very well for us. On a go-forward basis, our intention is to not share every detail. We are not going to share every pricing program. We are not going to share what the prices are. We are not going to share all of the terms. They are going to be customized, but by customer to meet customer needs. We are just not going to provide all that kind of information. To your very specific question, is the average price of a FICO Score going up, down, or sideways? We are not going to answer that. You guys who have been watching us and watching the industry can understand exactly why we are not going to answer that.” Yikes 😬

Projected swing towards the Democrats relative to 2024 presidential results: Texas +23.7 North Carolina +23.2 Rhode Island +23.2 South Carolina +22.4 Mississippi +22.1 New Jersey +21.2 Kansas +21.0 West Virginia +20.8 Georgia +20.2 Louisiana +20.2 Alabama +19.5 New Mexico +19.0 Arkansas +18.6 Kentucky +18.5 Tennessee +17.6 Virginia +17.2 Iowa +17.0 Ohio +16.3 Oklahoma +16.3 Colorado +15.0 Delaware +12.3 Wyoming +11.8 New Hampshire +11.2 Illinois +11.1 South Dakota +10.2 Florida +10.1 Nebraska +9.5 Michigan +6.5 Massachusetts +5.8 Minnesota +4.5 Maine -3.3

Haley Stevens is attracting a lot of attention right now, but it’s worth noting that Janet Mills never endorsed Troy Jackson in the Maine senate race. That’s another instance of deep friction between a populist candidate and the establishment choice that has gone quite unnoticed.

Stevens received 727,758 votes in the August primary. It's objectively absurd and a mathematical impossibility that some number of those votes don't peel off for Rogers on Tuesday. This is pure spin.

When Monster Mash comes on this Halloween, just remember: The guy who sang it looked like this the entire time 👀

Where polling shows white voters without college degrees going in the key Senate swing states: from @ashhwu me @RuthIgielnik nytimes.com/interactive/2026…

Fannie Mae added a significant amount of agency mortgage-backed securities to its portfolio during September. The government-sponsored enterprise held $109.72 billion of agency MBS at the end of the month, up 9.9% on a monthly basis. insidemortgagefinance.com/ar…

The new competition in the credit score space will drive an “ongoing sharpening of the saw” in companies’ algorithms and lead to improved models, says Matt Jones, FHA commissioner-nominee and deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at HUD. insidemortgagefinance.com/ar…

All these Echelon state polls have very small sample sizes and so the MoEs are +-5 or 6 percentage points!! Not really much use here.

As I’ve said, there’s only 2 options… Either this is the biggest midterm landslide of the 21st century, or the final nail in the coffin for the mainstream polling industry.

Freddie Mac held $77.50 billion of mortgages as of the end of September, down $4.83 billion from the end of August. That reduced the GSE’s investment portfolio to $135.44 billion, the lowest level of the year. insidemortgagefinance.com/ar…

According to Inside The GSEs analysis, when a borrower was scored using all three credit models, Classic FICO was the highest score 23.9% of the time. VantageScore 4.0 was the highest score 35.8% of the time and FICO 10T, 40.3% of the time. insidemortgagefinance.com/ar…

Abusive monopolies will not be allowed to take advantage of consumers anywhere in the mortgage market.

Mortgage rates are down 28 bps from this year's peak surge The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate today: 7.33% Same day last year: 6.18% ----------------- 10-year Treasury yield today: 4.99% Spread today: 234 bps

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ever privatized, it will be a disaster for taxpayers and new investors who buy in, but a windfall for existing investors like @BillAckman who cash out. However, since any move to privatize will push mortgage rates higher, it's unlikely to happen.