FICO’s new mortgage pricing model shakes up the credit bureaus.

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This week is sponsored by our friends at Fintel Connect.

It’s a week of shake-ups across credit, lending, and payments. FICO’s new direct-to-lender pricing is rattling the credit bureaus and could rewrite how mortgage scores are bought and sold. TransUnion’s latest report connects rising student loan delinquencies to early warning signs in auto finance, hinting at a possible reshuffle in how consumers prioritize payments as financial stress builds.

Elsewhere, fintechs are moving fast. Mastercard is also expanding its reach, launching a commerce media network for smarter ad targeting and extending near real-time cross-border payments to 22 new markets. Imprint Payments is planning its first asset-backed security sale, Worldpay rolled out an embedded finance engine for platforms, and Ramp introduced AI agents to fight invoice fraud. Synchrony’s acquisition of Versatile Credit strengthens its point-of-sale reach, while Visa and DeCard launched a premium Stablecoin card for Web3 users.

Let’s break down what’s happening.