FICO falls as Fannie, Freddie to allow use of rival credit score

** Shares of credit-scoring giant Fair Isaac FICO.N, better known as FICO, slide as much as 9%

** Stock last down 7.7% at $1,725

** Housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow lenders to use VantageScore 4.0 to increase competition in the credit scoring industry, Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a post on X

** VantageScore, a credit score modeling and analytics company, was founded in 2006 by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion as a competitor to FICO score

** Shares of Equifax EFX.N and TransUnion TRU.N rise 2.9% and 4.3%, respectively

** FICO stock has been under pressure in recent months as investor concerns grew that regulators will begin to more closely scrutinize mortgage costs

** 13 of 19 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, 4 "hold" and 2 "sell"; median PT $2,230 - data compiled by LSEG

** As of last close, FICO down 6.1% YTD