Foreclosure Investing 101 (WBEZ-Chicago)
"City Room" Ashley Gross WBEZ-Chicago May 23, 2007 Geoff Smith, Woodstock Institute research director describes how problems in the mortgage industry have contributed to high foreclosure rates.
Credit Unions Offer Affordable Emergency Credit at a Fraction of the Cost of Payday Lenders
For Immediate Release Contact: Marva Williams Senior Vice President, Woodstock Institute (312) 427-8070 Credit Unions Offer Affordable Emergency Credit at a Fraction of the Cost of Traditional Payday Lenders Credit unions can offer sustainable, affordable short-term credit at...
Cooperative Credit: How Community Development Credit Unions are Meeting the Need for Affordable, Short Term Credit
Marva Williams This report summarizes an 18-month evaluation of the affordable payday loan alternative products offered by six community development credit unions. In addition to describing loan activity, the report identifies the financial and operational factors that account for...
Woodstock Report Shows CUs Aren’t Only Ones Under Fire For Underserved Issues (Credit Union Journal)
Credit Union Journal May 14, 2007 The Woodstock Institute has issued a "Reinvestment Alert" called "Measuring the Provision of Banking Services For The Underbanked: Recommendations for a More Effective Community Reinvestment Act Service Test." A research think...
Middle Class and Homeless — Unlikely Families Face Foreclosure (Chicago Defender)
Zondra Hughes, Chicago Defender May 21, 2007 Editor's Note: Chicago saw its rate of home forclosures reach its highest level in a decade. Statistics indicates those earning above the median income level are contributing to the spike...
Comment letter on the proposed amendments to the rule implementing the Illinois Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program (HB4050)
idfpr_may2007_hb4050comments.pdfSuggests several methods for screening loans in such a way as to reduce the number of loans covered by the law and more effectively focus the act and the resources of couseling agencies on borrowers seeking higher cost loans...
Comment letter on proposed interagency statement on subprime lending
fed_OP-1278_may2007_statementonsubprimelending_1.pdfSuggests that the responsible underwriting guidelines and the disclosure of a mortgage’s full cost proposed in the interagency statement be applied to all loans, not strictly subprime adjustable-rate loans.
Snared!; Two women take a stand when shady company moves in (Chicago Sun-Times)
Sandra Guy Chicago Sun-Times May 18, 2007 Mortgage scams come in an increasing variety of flim-flams, as two women who nearly lost their homes in the Englewood neighborhood can attest. Shakeela Muhammad, a retired bank officer, found herself...
CRA financial services test plagued by insufficient, superficial and inconsistent data
For Immediate Release CRA financial services test plagued by insufficient, superficial and inconsistent data, and a lack of performance driven measurements Federal regulators methods for examining how the largest banks deliver financial services to communities throughout the Chicago...
Reinvestment Alert 31 – Measuring the Provision of Banking Services for the Underbanked: Recommendations for a More Effective Community Reinvestment Act Service Test
Geoff Smith, Malcolm Bush, and Nathan Paufve This alert examines the service test evaluations of Chicago area large banks and thrifts to determine what information on services is collected and analyzed during the test procedures and looks at how...