Clearing the path to homeownership for renters

Right now, we are living through some of the most tumultuous political times our country has ever known. I'm David Remnick, and each week on the New Yorker Radio Hour, I'll try to make sense of what's happening, alongside politicians and thinkers like Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, Tim Waltz, Ketanji Brown-Jackson, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Charlemagne Tha God, and so many more. That's all on the New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts. It might be getting a little easier to get a mortgage. From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in New York. The Trump administration announced a big change in how people's credit is assessed when they apply for mortgages. Lenders can now consider whether you've been paying your rent on time. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer reports. For years, would-be homebuyers could only prove their creditworthiness through FICO scores, which included their track records on things like credit card and car loan repayments. But that's not the whole picture, says Scott Turner, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. New models include rental history, utility payments, and other data that is not currently accounted for when applying for a home mortgage. And now homebuyers will be able to use the Vantage Score 4.0 model, which includes that payment history when applying for home loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration or mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is a big deal since Fannie and Freddie guarantee a majority of U.S. mortgages. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte says AI will be used to screen out risky borrowers. And so we feel very confident that it actually has an increased risk. If anything, we think it's decreased risk with what we're doing here. Pulte says initially Penny Mac, Rocket and 19 other big lenders will be able to use Vantage Scores. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace. The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the U.S. and Iran blame each other for it. The U seized an Iranian tanker a couple days ago and continues its blockade of Iranian ports Iran has seized two vessels and fired on a third Peace talks are on hold But investors have other things on their minds apparently Russ Mould is an investment director at the UK-based investment platform, A.J. Bell, and is here to talk about it. Russ, good morning. Good day to you, Sabri. Hope you're well. The head of the international energy agency, Fatih Barol, told CNBC today, quote, we are facing the biggest energy security threat in history. And yet markets hit records yesterday. Why are investors looking past this conflict? If you look at oil futures, they're pricing in $80 oil within 12 months time, back to almost where we were before the conflict started. And the volatility indices, the move for the U.S. treasury or bond market and the VIX for the U.S. equity market, they're at or below the historic averages. So markets are looking through the conflict, I think partly because they don't know what's coming next. And probably because I think they're just hoping that common sense prevails and we can find a peaceful humanitarian solution. You know, we've gotten a ton of earnings reports in the past couple of weeks. Does that have anything to do with the market's bullishness? It's certainly helping. We haven't had many nasty surprises, though I should say that, you know, US companies are expert at managing expectations, under-promising and over-delivering. They've probably got bigger tests coming up with the second, third and fourth quarter results, particularly if oil and gas prices stay high and particularly if the war continues and the streets of Homo remains blocked then you may start to see more Australian earnings but again markets looking past that and hoping that that won't be the case. Russ Mould is investment director at the UK-based investment platform AJ Bell. Russ thank you so much. Thank you. If you're a business leader, Intuit QuickBooks Payroll is an essential tool that completely integrates payroll, time tracking, HR, and your financials in a powerful all-in-one command center. No more juggling platforms or switching between vendors. 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But the outlook isn't all grim. a recent survey by ZipRecruiter found nearly a third of employers plan to hire more entry-level workers this year than they did last year. This week, we're hearing from several students navigating all of this. Today, we hear from Alicia Robinson, a journalism student at Morgan State University in Baltimore. I remember when I was 12 years old, there was a lot of stuff going on in Jamaica, and I used to watch this lady on television. Her name was Doreen Samuels. She was basically telling us about what was going on in Parliament and how they were arguing and how there was just a lot of things going on with like money problems like people taking money from where it's not supposed to come from and stuff like that and I remember telling my dad that when I grew up I want to tell stories that inform public that this is exactly what's happening you vote for these people they go in office and this is how they this is how they reward you this is what they do not one person in my family has ever been to college and I kind of wanted to break that cycle not for them but more so for me so I know that wherever I go, I want to be comfortable, of course, but I also want to make sure that whatever I'm doing, I'm helping people and I'm impacting people. Whether it takes six months to do it or nine months, I feel like it's going to be rewarding. It doesn't look pretty for college students. I feel like college used to be a place where okay we go to college we get a degree It a sure thing that we going to get a job But now it like if you don know people if you don have connections then you most certainly won get a job I also believe that as a journalist, I am able to tell stories in a way that AI can't. So I know that even though it looks scary right now, I know a job will always be out there for me just because of how flexible I am and how flexible I can be. The job market does not look good at all. and that's why I'm actually scared to just go right into it after I graduate. I want to go to grad school. I want to further my education because I think the best way to kind of like put yourself out there is just to further your education because if you just jump out there like that, you might just be eaten. I just remember being able to afford stuff and now it's like I have to be stingy with my money. There's things that I want but I can't get. It has to be a need for me to get it. If you don't have a side hustle, you're doing this economy because one main job just can't do things. Things are just way too expensive right now for you to say, oh, my God, I can live in America comfortable right now. I don't think anybody can do that right now. That was Alicia Robinson, graduating senior from Morgan State University. Tomorrow, we head to Arizona to speak with a student who isn't afraid of the AI boom. In New York, I'm Sabri Beneshour with the Marketplace Morning Report. From APM, American Public Media. As the Trump administration ramps up its crackdown on immigration, more people are making the difficult decision to leave the United States. I'm Rima Grace, and this week on my podcast, This Is Uncomfortable, we're asking, what does it really cost to leave the U.S. when you're undocumented? And what can life look like on the other side? I have to look around and remind myself that this is not a movie. This is my life. I am able to cross borders that I had never allowed myself to dream of. Be sure to listen to This Is Uncomfortable wherever you get your podcasts.