Invariantum

FICO's moat is a coordination lock: everyone uses the FICO score because everyone else does, not because it's the best model. That lock held for 19 years against a good rival. In July 2025 the one actor who could open it, the FHFA, admitted VantageScore into GSE mortgages. Record numbers since are lagging, not reassuring. Verdict: Strong but Impaired. Not broken, because the market hasn't actually moved, yet.