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 Walts,

Katanji Brown Jackson, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Charlemagne the God,

and so many more. That's all in 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 Sabrina Benshore 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-Genzor

reports. For years, would-be home buyers could only prove their credit

worthiness 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

Genser for Marketplace. The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the U.S. and Iran blame each other for it.

The U.S. seized an Iranian tanker a couple days ago and continues its blockade of Iranian ports.

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