Now is the time to level the playing field between credit issuers and credit card borrowers and curtail the industry’s worst abuses. In Congress, members from both sides of the aisle have co-sponsored a bill to do just this––including...
A proposed rule issued by the Federal Reserve Board to curb some of the industry’s worst practices takes one step forward by eliminating overdraft loans resulting from debit holds, but fails to require that consumers self-enroll based on their...
But perhaps most troubling is the fact that data collected by federal regulators on basic banking products and services is incomplete, inconsistent, and inaccessible to the public. In the past carefully crafted data disclosure requirements have proven invaluable. Pricing...
By: Paul Merrion July 21, 2008 SPOTLIGHT: THEODORA M. "DORY" RAND Job: President of Woodstock Institute in Chicago, since July 16. Vitals: 50 years old; bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies, Ohio State University, 1979; law degree, Ohio State...
Kirsten Srinivasan Sunday, July 20, 2008 In addition to costing people their homes, foreclosures carry a price tag for municipalities, officials say. Lansing increased its budget for mowing lawns on vacant properties to $20,000 this year, Lansing Village President...
Burt Constable Daily Herald Columnist July 19, 2008 Arlington Heights business owner Bob Griffith balked as soon as he read the letter from a payday loan company demanding that he garnish the wages of one of his employees. "Is...
fed_july2008_R-1314_depositaccountproposedrule.PDF Comment on a Federal Reserve proposal requiring financial institutions to provide an opt-out right for overdraft loan programs. Woodstock believes that this is insufficient and the Proposed Rule should be modified to require consumers to opt in, rather than...
fed_july2008_R-1314_creditcardproposedrule.PDF Comment on a Federal Reserve proposal requesting that the Federal Reserve set a maximum permissible default or penalty rate for credit cards and include additional borrower protections, eliminate double-cycle billing, eliminate universal default, forbid unfair payment cut-off times,...
ABC Chicago July 14, 2008 Scrambling to bolster eroding investor confidence, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced unprecedented steps to brace slumping mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The companies’ shares, which have plunged as losses...
Anne Blythe Staff Writer July 13, 2008 When Tony and Mary Garrett bought an old bungalow in East Durham seven years ago, they were greeted with scores of warnings about fixing up a home in a neighborhood plagued by...