Three-quarters of voters approve of rolling back “exorbitant increases” in FICO’s fees and many say they would be more likely to vote for a Republican candidate who supports affordability in credit score fees, according to a poll obtained by Breitbart News.
Fabrizio Ward, one of President Donald Trump’s main polling firms, conducted a poll on reports that Fair Isaac Corp., more commonly known as FICO, recently announced that it intends to raise its prices for credit scores. There was a swift backlash from Congress, as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and a member of the Subcommittee on Antitrust, announced an investigation into FICO’s planned price hikes. The Missouri senator has argued that the price hikes are straining homebuyers at a time where purchasing a home is more unaffordable than ever.
“These price increases are most damaging to the Americans who can least afford them. First-time homebuyers bear a disproportionate burden of the cost,” Hawley said in his letter to FICO announcing his investigation.
FICO sells its algorithm to determine one’s credit score to three credit bureaus, which collect consumer data to produce a credit report. Lenders use the credit reports to determine one’s creditworthiness for a loan or a mortgage.
The survey found that rolling back these fees is overwhelmingly popular with voters.
Seventy-four percent of registered voters back the rescission of the price hikes, with 56 percent strongly in support.
Voters also strongly back a Justice Department antitrust investigation into the issue, with 71 percent of voters in support and 11 percent against.
The Fabrizio Ward survey found that Republicans would strongly benefit by having Congress take action on FICO fees.
By a 25-point margin, or 43 to 18 percent, voters say they would be more likely to vote for the Republican candidate for Congress if the administration and GOP took action to lower FICO fees to decrease mortgage costs. Swing voters would be among those most impacted.
The poll said that affordability is the issue that would most influence if and how a voter would vote in the midterms at 21 percent, followed by immigration at 17 percent, foreign policy at 14 percent, and health care at 11 percent.
The survey stated, “The issue of affordability is more important to Swing voters (28%), those voters who split their tickets and often decide close elections, and even higher rated among those in the market to buy a home (33%) and prospective first-time homebuyers (37%).”
Fabrizio Ward surveyed 1,000 registered voters between March 25 and 28, and the poll has a 3.1 percent margin of error.
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