When I unexpectedly got a phone book in my mailbox, I had hope that the Yellow Pages would still matter to a degree. But honestly, it’s just a stark reminder of how things change. And that’s ok.
Home Blog
How Do Buy Now, Pay Later Loans Affect Mortgage Eligibility?
Everyone knows Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans are pervasive at this point.
Anytime you buy anything online, you’re given the option to pay it back in installments instead of all at once.
Even a small purchase that’s $100 or less can be broken down into monthly payments. This pushes the buyer to perhaps move forward when they shouldn’t.
The problem is these BNPL loans can start to add up and all of a sudden, you’re paying hundreds per month in aggregate.
And while they often aren’t reported to the credit bureaus, yet, mortgage underwriters can still find them and scrutinize your home loan application.
BNPL Loans Could Jeopardize Your Mortgage Application
While BNPL loans are super common, they aren’t quite established enough to make their way onto credit reports, at least consistently.
There have been reports of BNPL companies beginning to send data to credit bureaus, such as Affirm now reporting to Experian and Apple Pay Later going to consumer credit reports as well.
But it’s unclear if it’s actually affecting credit scores, especially since most versions of FICO scores don’t seem to incorporate the data.
In fact, FICO recently said two new BNPL-enabled credit scores, FICO Score 10 BNPL and FICO Score 10T BNPL, are now available to test.
That means mortgage lenders aren’t using these yet and are relying on older models that likely don’t factor in BNPL loans.
And that’s if the BNPL providers even report the data to begin with!
So for now, you probably don’t have to worry about these loans affecting your credit score and thereby hurting your mortgage chances.
Over time however, this could be a real possibility, especially if you’re a frequent user of BNPL loans.
How Mortgage Underwriters Currently View BNPL Loans
At the moment, a lot of BNPL loans don’t even make their way to credit reports, though they are increasingly being reported.
Even if they aren’t, there’s a decent chance the mortgage underwriter will find out anyway.
Because they might ask for recent copies of your bank statements, which include these payments.
The good news is even if they do find evidence of BNPL loans, they can often be excluded from your DTI ratio.
Why? Because Fannie, Freddie, the VA, and the FHA all allow for these debts to be excluded. For now at least.
However, you still have to document it to prove there are 10 or fewer months of payments remaining, which can be a burden.
And the presence of BNPL loans can still jeopardize your mortgage approval if the amounts are large enough and/or you have limited reserves.
Imagine you’ve got 10 BNPL loans that total $500 per month or more. An underwriter might start to worry that you might have trouble meeting your obligations.
Especially if you’ve got other risk attributes, such as a marginal credit score or a low down payment.
At some point, these loans are going to matter more and affect credit scores as well.
It’s also possible that the likes of Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA could eventually say you know what, these loans shouldn’t be excluded.
The credit bureaus might also find that frequent BNPL users are bigger credit risks and thus should have lower credit scores.
Lastly, don’t forget lender overlays, in which specific banks or lenders impose their own rules to mitigate risk.
It’s possible a bank you do business with decides BNPL loans should be included in your DTI ratio, thereby limiting what you can afford.
It Might Be Best to Avoid Using BNPL Loans Prior to a Home Purchase (or a Refinance)
The takeaway is that there’s still a lot of ambiguity in the BNPL space, even if mortgage lenders are looking the other way right now.
As noted, that could change as more studies are completed and reporting of the loans becomes more commonplace.
Over time, these loans might affect your credit scores (in a bad way), potentially pushing your mid-score below a key threshold, resulting in a higher mortgage rate. Or outright denial.
One also needs to consider their spending habits going into a major life decision like a home purchase.
If you’re racking up debt via BNPL loans, perhaps you’re not ready to make the leap to homeownership just yet.
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🚨 MAJOR UPDATE FOR ALL INVESTORS: Stocks Slide
Stock market news today. Important update for stock market investors before March 2026. NVDA drops, AI stocks decline, SCHD rising strong, Value ETFs increase, GDP data declines!
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Geopolitical Shocks: What Moves First and Why It Matters
Geopolitical Shocks: What Moves First and Why It Matters
T-Mobile Money Review – Earn 4% APY On Balances Up To $3,000 [New Negative Changes From June 1]
![T-Mobile Money Review – Earn 4% APY On Balances Up To $3,000 [New Negative Changes From June 1]](https://globalinvestmentstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/t-mobile-money-768x389.png "T-Mobile Money Review – Earn 4% APY On Balances Up To $3,000 [New Negative Changes From June 1]")
Update 5/1/26: More negative changes:
- Effective June 1st, 2026, the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on the following accounts will change:
- Checking Accounts without a Qualifying Direct Deposit: The APY will change from 2.50% to 1.00%.
- Savings and Shared Savings: The APY will change from 2.50% to 1.00%.
- Checking Accounts with a Qualifying Direct Deposit: For the portion of the balance above $3,000, the APY will change from 2.50% to 1.00%.
- The good news: The 4.00% APY on the first $3,000 of your Checking Account remains unchanged when you make at least $200 in qualifying payroll‑based direct deposits each month. Plus, when you set up payroll direct deposit, you can get paid up to 2 days early, giving you faster access to your money.
View the best current high yield accounts here.
Update 7/12/22: Saving account has increased from 1% to 1.5%
Update 1/27/22: They have introduced a savings account that offers 1% APY. Bit weird considering the checking account offers 4% and then 1% APY.
Update 3/31/21: New requirements are now in affect, there is a tracker for the 10 purchases per month now as well.
Update 2/19/21: They sent out an email with changes which will take effect on March 31, 2021: Eligible customers will no longer be required to deposit $200 per month to qualify for 4.00% APY. Instead, when you use your T‑Mobile MONEY card to make 10 qualifying purchases per month, you’ll earn 4.00% APY.
Update 8/27/20: Sprint customers now have access to this account
Update 4/18/19: This account has been available since November 28th, 2018 but it wasn’t being actively advertised by T-Mobile and T-Mobile was considering it an unofficial pilot program. That has changed today (T-Mobile is now pushing this account and sending out press releases). I assume that means the account is also here to stay.
Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 1-4% APY
- Minimum Balance: None listed
- Maximum Balance: $3,000
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements:
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull (states no hard pull here in the F.A.Q (under about t-mobile money))
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown but unlikely
- Monthly fees: None
- Insured: FDIC
The Offer
Direct link to offer
- T-Mobile has launched T-Mobile money, this is a digital checking powered by BankMobile (division of Customers Bank). All users receive an APY of 1% on all balances. T-Mobile Wireless customers receive an APY of 4% on balances up to $3,000 when they deposit at least $200 per month (must also be registered for perks with your T-Mobile ID). Apparently this is only a pilot program (although anybody can join)
Avoiding Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about.
Our Verdict
We still need to learn a bit more about this product, such as whether it’s a hard or soft pull to open the account but it does look very promising for T-Mobile customers. 4% APY is one of the top high yield savings rates and the requirements are easy to meet as it seems like any $200 deposit qualifies you for this rate. The maximum balance of $3,000 is on the lower side, but should still be worth doing for most T-Mobile customers I think. If anybody signs up for this account then please share your experiences in the comments below. This is also a checking account so it’s more attractive than a traditional savings account as well.
U.S. to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany as Trump feuds with Merz over the Iran war
The United States will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany in the next 6-12 months, the Pentagon said Friday.
President Donald Trump had threatened to withdraw some troops from the NATO ally earlier this week as he continues to feud with Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S-Israel war against Iran. Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized Washington’s lack of strategy in the war.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the “decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground.”
The U.S. has several major military facilities in Germany, including the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, Ramstein Air Base and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American hospital outside the United States.
The number of troops leaving Germany would be 14% of the 36,000 American service members stationed there.
Nico Lange from the Center of European Policy Analysis told The Associated Press earlier this week that they primarily serve U.S. interests, including “the projection of American power globally,” rather than helping with the defense of Germany.
Trump ignored questions from reporters about the withdrawal on Friday as he boarded Air Force One in Ocala, Florida, following a rally to tout his economic agenda.
Trump made a similar threat in his first term, saying he would pull about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops who were then stationed in Germany, but he didn’t start the process and Democratic President Joe Biden formally stopped the planned withdrawal soon after taking office in 2021.
Marketing Strategy for Businesses That Have Outgrown More Tactics
Most small businesses aren’t short on marketing activity. They’re short on the clarity that would let them do less of it. After working with hundreds of small businesses on their marketing strategy over 30 years, I’ve seen the same pattern: scattered tactics, inconsistent messaging, and a team that’s busy but not aligned. The problem isn’t effort. It’s the absence of a strategy.
You Don’t Have a Marketing Problem. You Have a Clarity Problem.
Most business owners I know are working harder than ever. More channels. More platforms. New AI tools to figure out every other week. The promise of AI, by the way, was that it was supposed to make all this easier. Ask most owners how that’s going, and they’ll tell you they’re working harder just keeping up.
That’s not a tools problem. That’s a strategy problem.
When you don’t have a clear strategy, every new platform looks like an opportunity and every new tactic looks like the fix. You say yes to everything because you don’t have a filter for knowing what to say no to. Teams get busy. Vendors get busy. Nobody is coordinating. And the messaging starts to drift in five different directions at once.
I’ve seen this at every level. Businesses with five people doing marketing. Businesses with five outside vendors all working on the same brand. All moving. None of it quite connecting.
The fix isn’t a better tactic. It’s the clarity to know what you’re actually trying to do, who you’re doing it for, and why someone should choose you.
What a Small Business Marketing Strategy Actually Looks Like
Here’s where a lot of people get tripped up. They hear “marketing strategy for small business” and assume it means more planning, more documents, more time before anything happens. That’s not what I’m talking about.
Clarity starts with a single honest question: do you know exactly who your ideal client is, and do you know why they’d choose you over every other option they have?
I worked with a business owner a couple of years ago. Solid seven-year-old business, good local reputation, decent revenue. But the marketing never quite landed. He’d tried ads. Tried SEO. Had a consultant in for a while. Still felt like running in place.
When we sat down, the problem was obvious. He had tactics. What he didn’t have was a clear picture of who he was actually for. His messaging was written to appeal to everyone, which meant it resonated with nobody.
We got specific about his ideal client: who gets the most out of this, values the work, pays well, comes back, and sends referrals? Who is specifically not that person? Once he could answer those questions clearly, everything else simplified fast. The messaging changed. The channels narrowed. The conversations started to feel different.
That’s what strategy does. It’s not about doing more. It’s about knowing what matters, and having the confidence to ignore the rest. You can see this play out in our client case studies.
The Part That Doesn’t Get Talked About Enough: Team Alignment
Even when a business owner has clarity, the team often doesn’t. And that’s where a lot of good strategy dies.
I walk into businesses regularly where the founder has a clear sense of direction but the team is working from their own assumptions. The vendors are doing the same. Nobody is comparing notes. The result is inconsistent messaging, wasted effort, and a growing frustration that marketing “just isn’t working.”
That’s not a brand problem. That’s an alignment problem.
And alignment doesn’t come from circulating a PDF after the fact. It comes from building the strategy together.
When the whole team is in the room for the process of defining the ideal client, sharpening the message, and setting priorities, they own it. They understand why decisions were made. They can defend those decisions to a vendor or a prospect. That shared language is worth more than the document itself.
How to Build That Foundation Faster Than You Think
In the past, the kind of strategy work I’m describing took 30 to 45 days. And it was worth it. Clients came out the other side with more clarity than they’d had in years. Relief was usually the word that came up most.
But I kept asking myself whether we could deliver the same depth faster.
Turns out, we can. With the AI research tools we’ve gotten good at, we can do the front-end analysis of your industry, your existing marketing, and the competitive landscape before we ever show up. Which means the day itself is all signal, no setup.
We call it Strategy First in a Day. One focused day with your key team in the room. We build the ideal client profile, sharpen the positioning, tighten the messaging, and set the priorities for the next 90 days. Same outputs as the full engagement. One day instead of 45.
It works especially well for businesses in the one to 25 million dollar range: ones that have proven they can get clients but feel the growing complexity that comes with real traction. The ad hoc approach got you here. It won’t get you to the next level.
Questions I Get Asked About This
Is this only for businesses that are struggling with marketing?
Not at all. Some of the businesses that benefit most are growing well but feel the friction. Revenue is up, but the messaging is inconsistent. The team keeps restarting conversations that should already have answers. Strategy First in a Day works best when there’s real traction and you’re ready to make the marketing match where the business actually is.
What does my team walk away with at the end of the day?
A complete strategic foundation: your ideal client profile, your core message, your positioning relative to the competition, and a 90-day priority roadmap. Some businesses hand that to their internal team and run with it. Others move into ongoing fractional marketing leadership. Either way, the work is done in the room, not assigned as homework.
How is this different from a workshop or a consulting engagement?
Workshops give you frameworks. Consulting engagements give you recommendations. Strategy First in a Day gives you the actual deliverables, built with your team, that day. The distinction matters. When everyone in the room builds the strategy together, they understand it, they own it, and they can actually use it. That’s different from being handed someone else’s conclusions.
The Bottom Line
Growth that feels messy usually isn’t a marketing execution problem. It’s a clarity problem. And clarity isn’t something you stumble into by adding more tactics.
It starts with knowing who you’re for, why they’d choose you, and what matters most right now. Everything else follows from that.
If you want to see what building that foundation looks like in a single focused day with your whole team, head to dtm.world/oneday. That’s where we’ve laid out exactly how Strategy First in a Day works, who it’s built for, and what you walk away with.
I Ranked All The Finance Jobs: From God-Tier to “Please Don’t”
In this video, I rank 10 of the most talked-about finance careers — from Venture Capital, Private Equity, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Consulting, Commercial Banking and more — into S, A, B, C, and D tiers.
This is not the Google version.
This is the real-world, brutally honest tier list based on:
– What the job does to your lifestyle
– How much you actually learn
– Long-term wealth creation potential
– Whether the prestige is real… or just LinkedIn propaganda
– And of course: the chaos, memes, and trauma associated with each role
If you’re a student choosing a career, a professional thinking of switching paths, or someone who simply enjoys watching finance people fight in the comments — this one is for you.
My other social things I guess (I don’t even think you can really know a person through any of these) but I really appreciate the repository of links in all the YouTubers I follow so here goes:
Instagram: @whybhanshu or
LinkedIn: Vibhanshu Golia or
The Community Discord channel (thanks to Tuhin for this):
My YTMusic Playlist:
My Spotify Playlist:
00:00 Introduction
00:33 Venture Capital
01:21 Quants
02:41 Corporate Finance
03:27 Management Consulting
04:27 Big 4 Audit
05:18 Private Equity
07:17 Wealth Management
08:10 Equity Research
09:07 Risk Management
09:38 Commercial Banking
10:26 Investment Banking
11:32 Please subscribe lol
#Finance #Career
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Calgary home sales drop as supply improves and buyers pull back
Rising inventory is giving buyers more leverage and less urgency, with the condo segment seeing the steepest pullback
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Will Allow Rent and Utility Payments to Influence Credit Scores, Making Rent-to-Own Deals for Tenants More Feasible for Landlords
The rent-to-own strategy has proven to be a trusted way for investors to sell their properties to tenants at a profit. What’s not usually so trusted in these scenarios is the assurance that your tenants will improve their credit scores enough to qualify for a mortgage and actually be able to buy your rental.
Help for the cause has arrived from an unlikely source: government-sponsored entities (GSEs) mortgage backers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who are allowing rent and utility payments included in credit reports to be factored into mortgage approvals. This is particularly advantageous for landlords, as they can now easily monitor these two essentials to ensure tenants stay on track in their quest to become homeowners.
New Rules: When Rent and Utilities Start to Count
The enhanced scoring models, which begin on July 10, aim to incorporate what federal regulators describe in a Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) press release as a “new era of credit score competition.” The new move is intended to make mortgage approvals easier for potential buyers to offset years of rising home prices under the former credit score system.
According to the FHFA, both Fannie and Freddie are moving forward with the VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T models, which are specifically designed to favor alternative data, such as rental history, once reported to major credit bureaus.
FHFA says this transition is intended to expand access to homeownership for creditworthy borrowers who were previously overlooked by older systems that relied heavily on traditional credit cards and installment loans.
How Mortgage Lenders Access the Data
The new system will allow mortgage lenders to submit a borrower’s bank account data, including 12 consecutive months of rent payments. According to Michael DeVito, CEO of Freddie Mac, it could be a game-changer for potential borrowers with limited credit history.
“By factoring in a borrower’s responsible rent payment history into our automated underwriting system, we can help make homebuying possible for qualified renters, particularly in underserved communities,” DeVito said in a statement reported by HousingWire.
Accessing a borrower’s banking info can be accomplished with the borrower’s permission through common money transfer/payment apps such as Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal.
Landlords Are a Part of the Equation
Freddie Mac announced in November 2021 that it wanted multifamily landlords to report positive rental payments to the three major credit reporting bureaus through Esusu Financial, enabling renters to become homeowners.
Freddie Mac CEO Michael DeVito said at the time:
“Rent payments are often the single largest monthly line item in a family’s budget, but paying your rent on time does not show up in a credit report like a mortgage payment. That puts the 44 million households who rent at a significant disadvantage when they seek financing for a home, a car, or even an education. While there remains more to do, this is a meaningful step in addressing this age-old problem.”
Sister GSE Fannie Mae first announced in August 2021 that one-time rental payments would be factored into its underwriting calculations. Bill Pulte, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said on social media the change “expands credit access to millions of forgotten Americans—people who live in rural areas, renters who pay their rent on time every month—and [helps] bring down closing costs.”
The Role Landlords Play
Rent and utility payments aren’t automatically factored into a tenant’s mortgage eligibility. Landlords or property managers typically need to work with a rent-reporting service to transmit data to Equifax, Experian, or TransUnion. To that end, Freddie Mac’s multifamily division has launched a program that encourages this, including up to two years of on-time rental payments.
For landlords of single-family properties who hope to sell to their tenant-occupants, Freddie Mac has updated its Loan Product Advisor (LPA) so lenders can indicate when a borrower’s rent payment history has been documented.
This typically occurs in one of three ways: either through asset reports identifying recurring rent transfers; by submitting leases, bank statements, or canceled checks; or through third-party verification reports with prior tenant approval.
PennyMac, a major correspondent lender, said that for certain types of mortgages, a positive history of rent payments can upgrade a loan’s risk class from “Caution” to “Accept,” improving the borrower’s approval chances. An essential component for approval is 12 months of consecutive on-time payments with no delinquencies.
Fast-Tracking First-Time Homebuyers
In qualifying tenants, landlords might want to mention Freddie Mac’s Desktop Underwriter (DU) system to their tenants, which identifies at least 12 months of recurring bank statements totaling $300 or more and uses that information to approve first-time homebuyers. The advantage is that it does not directly affect the consumer’s credit report or score.
Equally, Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Positive Rent Payment Reporting pilot program in the multifamily sector allows landlords to share positive rent payments with credit bureaus.
To be considered for a Fannie Mae mortgage under current guidelines introduced in 2022, renters must meet the following criteria:
- Be a first-time homebuyer purchasing a principal residence,
- Have a credit score of at least 620 (nontraditional credit is generally not permitted),
- Have been renting for at least 12 months,
- Have rent payments of $300 or more per month, and
- Have bank accounts that document the most recent 12 months of recurring rent payments.
Rent Reporting Can Help Potential Homebuyers
Rent reporting makes a difference, according to early monitoring of one Fannie Mae rent reporting program in which renters saw an average of a 40-point increase in their credit scores once one-time payments were factored in. According to a 2023 Bankrate article, over 23,000 renters established credit through the program.
According to a November CNBC article, TransUnion found that rental reporting can boost credit scores by an average of nearly 60 points.
The article reports that rent reporting services such as Boom, Rent Reporters, and Rental Kharma will verify a tenant’s payment history and submit the information to the credit reporting bureaus. However, these companies all charge a fee for their services.
“There is a logistical problem for the bureaus to receive rental data from landlords, since there are so many landlords and many of them are too small to bother with,” says Jim Droske, president of Illinois Credit Services. “So, rent reporting companies have recently stepped in to fill the gap.”
Final Thoughts
Landlords will likely need to check with their tenants about how their potential lenders are qualifying them. A 2026 guide from Background Check Solutions notes that while FICO 8 is widely used across many types of mortgage lending, it generally does not incorporate rental data. However, FICO 9 and FICO 10 do.
Also, expanded rent and utility reporting options won’t automatically make your tenants eligible for a mortgage if they are behind on credit card or other payments. That’s why a landlord’s first step in choosing tenants who can one day buy their property is to screen meticulously before renting.
For landlords with a large number of properties—some of which they are looking to sell—it might involve approaching long-term tenants with a good payment history to see if they are interested in buying.
The ideal candidate is not one with black marks on their credit profile that you are attempting to transform into a shining example of fiscal responsibility, but rather a tenant who simply doesn’t have enough credit history and needs more data to qualify.