Categoría: Influencers

SEATTLE, March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Limited access to credit-building products and services disproportionately cuts off Black and Latinx Americans from the wealth-building advantages of homeownership that can last for generations, a new Zillow® analysis shows, shedding light on a prime barrier to entry for prospective homeowners of color.

Twenty-six million Americans do not have a credit recordⁱ and around 12.5 million adults live in «credit insecure» counties,ⁱⁱ characterized by a high number of residents with poor or no credit history, as well as relatively limited structural access to formal credit products and services. A disproportionate number are Black or Latinx.

One of the many consequences of restricted credit access is the inability to secure homeownership — nearly three-quarters of home buyers (72%) obtain a loan to help pay for their home, and an even higher rate of Black (78%) and Latinx (77%) home buyers do.ⁱⁱⁱ As counties become more credit secure there is a direct and meaningful correlation with higher homeownership rates,^iv outlining a possible path to bridging the racial homeownership gap. Potential drivers could include adjusting the way credit history is recorded and expanding the reach of small lenders that are less likely to deny applicants based on their credit history. 

«Lower homeownership is just one of many negative results borne out of poor credit health in communities nationwide,» said Nicole Bachaud, economic data analyst at Zillow. «For many, walking into a bank or going online to apply for a loan or open a new credit card is simple. But for those excluded from the formal credit market in this country, it is a far more daunting task, and Black and Latinx households are especially vulnerable. A shift in credit reporting might be a first step to reducing the systemic barriers into homeownership and the financial market overall.» 

Currently, credit history, or lack thereof, is the number one reason mortgage applications are denied to Black applicants, underscoring the potential for progress in this area. About 15% of Black and Latinx Americans are «credit invisible,» completely lacking a record of credit, compared to 9% of white and Asian Americans. 

Being credit invisible can create a catch 22 that’s difficult to break out of — opening new lines of credit is often conditional on having an existing credit score — and can bleed into future generations, as lack of access to credit now will limit future wealth accumulation and the amount of generational wealth available to pass on. 

President Biden’s administration has proposed restructuring the current credit system to accept non-traditional sources of data like rental payments and utility bills as an alternative path to establishing a credit history. The goal of such a restructuring would be to bring many credit invisible individuals into the system they are currently locked out of.

Not only are Black and Latinx individuals more prone to being credit invisible, they are also more highly concentrated in counties with higher credit insecurity. Almost one in 10 Black households (9.7%) and 7.9% of Latinx households live in counties considered credit insecure, compared to 2.7% of white households and 3.5% of Asian households. 

The presence of smaller, more localized banks in a community could improve access to credit in these types of areas where credit insecurity is high. The overall mortgage denial rate at small banks — those with less than 1,000 applications received — was 7.4% in 2019, less than half the rate (17.2%) at large banks with more than 100,000 applications. And only 2.6% of all mortgage applications at small banks were denied based on credit, again less than half the rate (5.7%) at large banks. Small banks are currently less prevalent in counties that are considered credit insecure. 

About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make it easier to unlock life’s next chapter. 

As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates offer customers an on-demand experience for selling, buying, renting or financing with transparency and nearly seamless end-to-end service. Zillow Offers® buys and sells homes directly in dozens of markets across the country, allowing sellers control over their timeline. Zillow Home Loans™, our affiliate lender, provides our customers with an easy option to get pre-approved and secure financing for their next home purchase. Zillow recently launched Zillow Homes, Inc., a licensed brokerage entity, to streamline Zillow Offers transactions.  

Zillow Group’s brands, affiliates and subsidiaries include Zillow®, Zillow Offers®, Zillow Premier Agent®, Zillow Home Loans™, Zillow Closing Services™, Zillow Homes, Inc., Trulia®, Out East®, StreetEasy® and HotPads®. Zillow Home Loans, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender, NMLS #10287 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). 

ⁱ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201505_cfpb_data-point-credit-invisibles.pdf
ⁱⁱ Federal Reserve Bank of New York: https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/outreach-and-education/community-development/constraints-on-access-to-credit.pdf
ⁱⁱⁱ Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report, 2020
^iv Zillow analyzed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Credit Insecurity Index and found that for every 10-point increase in a given county’s credit insecurity index score, homeownership fell by 2%. https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/media/outreach-and-education/community-development/constraints-on-access-to-credit.pdf

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/expanding-access-to-credit-could-shrink-the-homeownership-race-gap-301239309.html

SOURCE Zillow

WILMINGTON, Del., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — DuPont (NYSE:DD) has been awarded a three-year, $1.3 million USD grant from PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency on behalf of National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF) to determine how Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) technology can be applied to desalination processes to make the purification of seawater more energy efficient, flexible and reliable.

DuPont Water Solutions, a leading manufacturing of reverse osmosis and desalination membranes, obtained the globally patented and unique CCRO process technology with the acquisition of Desalitech Ltd. in January 2020. CCRO leverages a standardized design, a smart software, and standard components to help customers purify and reuse more water through higher recovery rates, lower energy consumption and reduced maintenance compared to traditional reverse osmosis. CCRO has proven to deliver up to 90-98 percent water recovery with reduced energy usage and superior fouling and scaling resistance for the purification and reuse of brackish water within industrial, municipal, and wastewater applications.

The grant will enable DuPont to continue to advance and expand the applications of the CCRO technology to bring its benefits to desalination processes and make it commercially viable for seawater reverse osmosis systems. Through this project, the CCRO technology will be optimized for seawater desalination systems to operate at 15 percent or lower energy than conventional reverse osmosis systems using energy recovery devices. The project also intends to demonstrate additional benefits of minimizing maintenance through fewer cleanings, and the ability to automatically adapt to variable salinity feed source. Closed circuit reverse osmosis desalination systems, as more autonomous, data-driven solutions, will be well suited to support the clean water needs of regions with limited access to water operations and affordable energy.

«DuPont is working to help solve global water challenges with a sense of urgency,» said HP Nanda, global vice president, general manager, DuPont Water Solutions. «As we look to increase access to fresh water, we believe that closed circuit reverse osmosis will prove to be a more sustainable way to purify, conserve and reuse water, including saltwater.»

«We look forward to working with PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, to advance CCRO and membrane technologies to enable a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination system with record-setting lowest energy consumption,» said Gary Gu, global technology leader, DuPont Water Solutions. «DuPont is fully committed to supporting Singapore in our shared sustainability journey through innovation and collaboration.»

The grant is part of Singapore’s Competitive Research Programme (Water) that supports Research and Development (R&D) for technologies with great potential to transform the water industry.

DuPont Water Solutions (DWS) is a leader in sustainable water purification and separation technologies, including ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes and ion exchange resins. DuPont designs and produces the most widely used RO membrane technology in the world — trusted globally by municipalities, industries, manufacturers, commercial markets, and families requiring clean, safe water.

Desalination membranes remove salt and other chemicals from water, a process critical to the health of society, cleaning billions of gallons of water for agriculture, energy production and drinking. Reverse osmosis membranes work by applying pressure to the salty feed solution on one side. The minerals remain in the feed while the water passes through. Although more efficient than non-membrane desalination processes, this process still takes a large amount of energy in water treatment plants and improving the efficiency of the membranes through the use of CCRO could reduce that burden.

About DuPont Water & Protection
DuPont Water and Protection is a global leader in creating water, shelter and safety solutions for a more sustainable world; enabling its customers to win through unique capabilities, global scale and iconic brands including Kevlar®, Nomex®, Tyvek®, Corian® Design, GreatStuff™, Styrofoam™, and FilmTec™.

About DuPont

DuPont (NYSE: DD) is a global innovation leader with technology-based materials and solutions that help transform industries and everyday life. Our employees apply diverse science and expertise to help customers advance their best ideas and deliver essential innovations in key markets including electronics, transportation, construction, water, healthcare and worker safety. More information about the company, its businesses and solutions can be found at http://www.dupont.com. Investors can access information included on the Investor Relations section of the website at investors.dupont.com.

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3/3/21

Media Contact

Anna Gemolas, DuPont, 301-751-2911, Anna.Gemolas@dupont.com

SOURCE DuPont