Housing is the most considerable expense for U.S. consumers — and while high rents and home prices are obstacles to saving for potential homebuyers, access to affordable credit is another significant roadblock. 

An estimated 50 million Americans are “credit invisible,” according to a 2022 fact sheet from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Project REACh, or Roundtable for Economic Access and Change. That means they don’t have a credit file and lack a credit score and, as a result, find it challenging to qualify for a mortgage, credit card or other financing.

″‘Credit invisible’ is someone who hasn’t interacted with the credit system. They either have no credit file or a thin credit file,” said Priscilla Almodovar, the CEO of the housing financing agency Fannie Mae. “So that impacts people who want to buy a home, and that could be people new to this country; it could be Black, Latinos and young people, the millennials, driving this housing demand.”

Still, consumers with thin credit files may have a history of paying rent on time — a factor mortgage financing provider Fannie Mae started to count in late 2022. Its Positive Rent Payment Reporting initiative, which has been extended through the end of 2024, allows people renting in eligible properties to have their rent payments counted by credit rating agencies at no cost. 

“We’re now able to level the playing field and make access to credit something that’s available to many more consumers,” Almodovar said. 

Having little or no credit is a major stumbling block to getting a mortgage. It also prevents consumers from getting attractive rates on all types of loans.

Rent payments can be one way to gain credit visibility.

Fannie Mae’s free program works with providers Esusu Financial Inc., Jetty Credit and Rent Dynamics. There are many other players in the market, too. Experian Boost reports rent payments for free as well as payments for utilities, mobile phones and streaming services. Other rent-reporting firms — including Boom, Rental Kharma, RentReporters and Self — also can provide your rental payments to one or more major credit bureaus for free or a modest fee by allowing access to your bank statements. 

When rent payments are included in credit reports, consumers see an average increase of nearly 60 points to their credit score, according to a 2021 TransUnion report.

Fannie Mae’s pilot program has helped more than 35,000 people establish credit scores, the agency reports. Participants who already had a credit score and saw an improvement had an average score increase of up to 40 points, according to Fannie Mae.

Florida resident Joe Grande, 56, who works as an inventory control clerk, saw a credit boost of 80 points in his first three months, to 660, after signing up for free reporting from his landlord through rent reporting company Esusu, a vendor that works with Fannie Mae. He says the program has helped keep him on track toward his goal of buying a home.

“It makes me feel like I’m in control, but it also makes me want to make sure everything else is paid on time,” Grande said. 

Experts say the impact on your credit can be significant. “What it accomplishes for you, adding 24 on-time payments, it’s like jumpstarting your car with a truck battery,” said Martin Lynch, president of the Financial Counseling Association of America and education director at the non-profit Cambridge Credit Counseling in Agawam, Massachusetts. 

While these programs can help build credit more quickly, experts caution that it takes time to establish a track record.

It typically takes six months to create a credit profile and longer to establish a solid track record of repayment, experts say. Credit scores generally range from 300 to 850 — and lenders generally view a credit score lower than 670 as a higher risk.  

“For somebody with a 680, they’re going to be able to obtain financing, but it’s typically not going to give them access to the lowest interest rates and the best deals,” said Bruce McClary, a senior vice president at the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. 

It’s also important to carefully review the costs and terms of the rent-reporting company you want to use. While the Fannie Mae pilot provides only positive payment history to all three credit bureaus at no cost, consumers using rent reporting outside of that should clarify if there information is being reported to all three of the biggest players: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

“If your good payment history is being reporting to one of the three, that can be less impactful than if reported to all three credit bureaus,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree.

DETROIT — Ford Motor will expand production of its large Super Duty trucks to a Canadian plant that was previously set to be converted into an all-electric vehicle hub.

The new plans include investing about $3 billion to expand Super Duty production, including $2.3 billion at Ford’s Oakville Assembly Complex in Ontario, Canada, Ford said Thursday. The remaining investment will be used to increase production at supporting facilities in the U.S. and Canada, the company said.

Ford currently produces Super Duty trucks — the larger siblings of the F-150 full-size pickup used largely by commercial and business customers — at plants in Ohio and Kentucky.

Ford said the Canadian plant, which is expected to come online in 2026, will add capacity of roughly 100,000 units annually.

“Super Duty is a vital tool for businesses and people around the world and, even with our Kentucky Truck Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant running flat out, we can’t meet the demand,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a release. “This move benefits our customers and supercharges our Ford Pro commercial business.”

Ford had previously announced plans to invest $1.3 billion into the Canadian plant for EV production. Those plans included a new three-row SUV, which the company recently delayed until 2027.

The announcement comes weeks after Farley said full electrification of “big, huge, enormous” vehicles such as Ford’s Super Duty trucks was “never going to make money.”

Ford said it has plans to “electrify” the next generation of its Super Duty trucks, however it declined Thursday to disclose additional details.

The company said the move supports Farley’s Ford+ blueprint for profitable growth, including maximizing Ford’s manufacturing footprint. It’s the latest pullback for the restructuring plan involving EVs, however the automaker said it still plans to produce the three-row EV at an unspecified plant, starting in 2027.

The Ford+ plan initially focused heavily on EVs when it was announced in May 2021 during the company’s first investor day under Farley, who took over the helm of the automaker in October 2020.

At the time, there was significant optimism around all-electric vehicle adoption and potential profitability that have not materialized as quickly as many had expected.

Ford’s initial plan called for almost half of its global sales to be electric by 2030, fueled by more than $30 billion in investments in EVs through 2025. It’s unclear how much capital the company has spent on EVs to date. Its plans have changed several times, and its “Model e” EV unit lost $4.7 billion in 2023.

While Ford’s EV unit loses billions of dollars, its Ford Pro commercial business including its Super Duty trucks earned $7.2 billion before interest and taxes in 2023.

The Ford+ plan also included a target of 8% earnings before interest and tax, or EBIT, profit margin for the EV unit by the end of 2026. Ford withdrew that target earlier this year. It would have been a massive turnaround from a profit margin of roughly negative 40% in 2022.

Ford said the new Super Duty production will initially secure approximately 1,800 Canadian jobs at the Oakville Assembly Complex, 400 more than would initially have been needed to produce the three-row EV.

This is part of NBC News’ Checkbook Chronicles, a series of profiles highlighting the financial realities of everyday Americans.

Retirement has not been what Lucy Haverfield envisioned.

“I thought my 60s were going to be my golden years. I would watch commercials, and all I saw were people on trips to Cancún or golfing or sitting by the pool. I couldn’t wait,” said Haverfield, a 71-year-old resident of rural Alva, Florida.

“My 60s were nothing like that — nothing,” she said. “Not even remotely like that.”

Primary source of income: Widowed and with her retirement savings drained, Haverfield lives on $2,400 a month in Social Security benefits, totaling $28,800 a year. She said it isn’t enough to afford fresh fruits and vegetables, let alone a meal at a restaurant or a vacation.

Living situation: Haverfield owns her home in Alva, a small community about 20 miles inland from Fort Myers, with mortgage payments of $1,500 a month. When her homeowners insurance doubled recently to $4,000 a year, she had to borrow money from a friend to cover the cost.

Lucy Haverfield and her late husband.Courtesy Lucy Haverfield

Economic outlook: The broader economy feels rocky, Haverfield said, but she doesn’t think much about it because it’s beyond her control.

“It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous: ‘One day at a time.’ I’m going to pay this bill today. I’m not going to worry about the bill after that,” she said. “That’s my economy.”

Before retiring about a decade ago to care for her ailing husband, Haverfield taught at a community college and worked in a range of senior-level telecommunication roles in South Florida. She and her husband lived comfortably when they were both working — eating out, driving the cars they liked and maintaining a small savings account for trips.

The couple had planned to retire with $1 million in savings between their IRA and 401(k). But Haverfield said her husband did a poor job managing their finances, especially as he became ill, and she retired several years earlier than planned to tend to him full-time. Their money quickly dwindled to pay for his care as well as that of her mother and several other ailing relatives.

“We just didn’t anticipate what it would look like for us as caregivers,” she said, describing a financial whiplash many older Americans are confronting as health care costs gobble up their reserves. “We never thought that we wouldn’t make enough money, or that the funds wouldn’t be enough.”

Haverfield is among millions of retirees living on fixed incomes outside of a historically strong labor market and rising wages. One in seven retirees get nearly all their income from Social Security checks, which average around $1,900 a month, according to the AARP. Future retirees are set to follow the trend, with 20% of adults over 50 having no retirement savings.

Even so, Haverfield said, “I’m doing okay. I mean, I still have the lights on — some of them don’t work, but the lights that are working are on. I still am able to pay the mortgage. I have a roof over my head. I still enjoy living.”

Budget pain points: Inflation has hammered Haverfield’s basic living costs. She recalled a recent month when the only food she could afford was a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a bag of onions. The last time she ate at a restaurant was more than a year ago, she said, and her friend paid.

Sometimes Haverfield skips paying one of her bills to cover food and gas, only to pay a late fee the following month, she said. Desperate to trim her electricity costs, she turns off circuit breakers for any appliances she isn’t using and leaves the heat off in winter, when temperatures can dip into the 50s.

Canned goods like tuna and canned fruit, along with pasta and frozen vegetables, have become staples in her diet. “I would love to have fresh berries in this house — I would love it, it would be amazing — but that’s not to be,” she said.

Florida has seen some of the highest inflation in the country, driven in part by rising housing, food and insurance costs, according to Moody’s Analytics. Though the state has had one of the lower unemployment rates in the nation, wages haven’t been keeping up with rising housing costs, even in more affordable areas, Zillow researchers have found.

Getting by without a cushion: Without any type of emergency fund, Haverfield said she worries that a major expense, like a car or air conditioning repair, would push her finances to a breaking point. She would have to place any large unexpected purchase on a credit card but she doesn’t know how she’d be able to make even the minimum payments given how tight her budget is already.

Despite being in her 70s, she has considered trying to get a job but worries about the cost of gas and the wear it would put on her 11-year old car. Most job opportunities would require at least a 40-mile round-trip drive from her home, she estimates.

So for now, Haverfield is focused on avoiding financial calamity as best she can.

“It’s just: Survive,” she said. “That’s it.”

The Securities and Exchange Commission sued the former CEO of the blank-check company that merged with Trump Media, accusing him of lying about his firm’s plans to combine with Donald Trump’s social media startup.

Patrick Orlando allegedly lied in public filings when he said his company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., had not contacted any possible merger targets and had no specific merger plans, the commission said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday night in Washington, D.C., federal court.

“Orlando knew these statements were false,” the SEC’s civil complaint alleged.

“He had personally engaged in numerous lengthy discussions” with Trump Media’s representatives, and he had targeted the company “for months,” the SEC alleged.

The SEC asked the court to force Orlando to give up “all ill-gotten gains” as a result of his alleged violations, along with civil penalties and a permanent injunction barring his from engaging in that conduct.

Orlando and Trump Media did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Trump Media and Digital World completed their lengthy public merger in March, allowing the company behind the Truth Social platform to trade on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker DJT.

This is part of NBC News’ Checkbook Chronicles, a series of profiles highlighting the financial realities of everyday Americans.

Retirement has not been what Lucy Haverfield envisioned.

“I thought my 60s were going to be my golden years. I would watch commercials, and all I saw were people on trips to Cancún or golfing or sitting by the pool. I couldn’t wait,” said Haverfield, a 71-year-old resident of rural Alva, Florida.

“My 60s were nothing like that — nothing,” she said. “Not even remotely like that.”

Primary source of income: Widowed and with her retirement savings drained, Haverfield lives on $2,400 a month in Social Security benefits, totaling $28,800 a year. She said it isn’t enough to afford fresh fruits and vegetables, let alone a meal at a restaurant or a vacation.

Living situation: Haverfield owns her home in Alva, a small community about 20 miles inland from Fort Myers, with mortgage payments of $1,500 a month. When her homeowners insurance doubled recently to $4,000 a year, she had to borrow money from a friend to cover the cost.

Lucy Haverfield and her late husband.Courtesy Lucy Haverfield

Economic outlook: The broader economy feels rocky, Haverfield said, but she doesn’t think much about it because it’s beyond her control.

“It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous: ‘One day at a time.’ I’m going to pay this bill today. I’m not going to worry about the bill after that,” she said. “That’s my economy.”

Before retiring about a decade ago to care for her ailing husband, Haverfield taught at a community college and worked in a range of senior-level telecommunication roles in South Florida. She and her husband lived comfortably when they were both working — eating out, driving the cars they liked and maintaining a small savings account for trips.

The couple had planned to retire with $1 million in savings between their IRA and 401(k). But Haverfield said her husband did a poor job managing their finances, especially as he became ill, and she retired several years earlier than planned to tend to him full-time. Their money quickly dwindled to pay for his care as well as that of her mother and several other ailing relatives.

“We just didn’t anticipate what it would look like for us as caregivers,” she said, describing a financial whiplash many older Americans are confronting as health care costs gobble up their reserves. “We never thought that we wouldn’t make enough money, or that the funds wouldn’t be enough.”

Haverfield is among millions of retirees living on fixed incomes outside of a historically strong labor market and rising wages. One in seven retirees get nearly all their income from Social Security checks, which average around $1,900 a month, according to the AARP. Future retirees are set to follow the trend, with 20% of adults over 50 having no retirement savings.

Even so, Haverfield said, “I’m doing okay. I mean, I still have the lights on — some of them don’t work, but the lights that are working are on. I still am able to pay the mortgage. I have a roof over my head. I still enjoy living.”

Budget pain points: Inflation has hammered Haverfield’s basic living costs. She recalled a recent month when the only food she could afford was a loaf of bread, a jug of milk and a bag of onions. The last time she ate at a restaurant was more than a year ago, she said, and her friend paid.

Sometimes Haverfield skips paying one of her bills to cover food and gas, only to pay a late fee the following month, she said. Desperate to trim her electricity costs, she turns off circuit breakers for any appliances she isn’t using and leaves the heat off in winter, when temperatures can dip into the 50s.

Canned goods like tuna and canned fruit, along with pasta and frozen vegetables, have become staples in her diet. “I would love to have fresh berries in this house — I would love it, it would be amazing — but that’s not to be,” she said.

Florida has seen some of the highest inflation in the country, driven in part by rising housing, food and insurance costs, according to Moody’s Analytics. Though the state has had one of the lower unemployment rates in the nation, wages haven’t been keeping up with rising housing costs, even in more affordable areas, Zillow researchers have found.

Getting by without a cushion: Without any type of emergency fund, Haverfield said she worries that a major expense, like a car or air conditioning repair, would push her finances to a breaking point. She would have to place any large unexpected purchase on a credit card but she doesn’t know how she’d be able to make even the minimum payments given how tight her budget is already.

Despite being in her 70s, she has considered trying to get a job but worries about the cost of gas and the wear it would put on her 11-year old car. Most job opportunities would require at least a 40-mile round-trip drive from her home, she estimates.

So for now, Haverfield is focused on avoiding financial calamity as best she can.

“It’s just: Survive,” she said. “That’s it.”