If done right, the national regulations could ensure that consumers will be protected from payday lenders' worst practices, regardless of where they take out a loan. But if regulators miss the opportunity to create comprehensive rules, lenders could continue...
This could impact access to mortgage credit for everyone, especially underserved communities, for generations to come. Currently, legislation in D.C. cosponsored by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) is being hotly debated as a way to...
Producer Kim Jacobs will join the panel to discuss her film, which reveals what can happen to older adults when they are targeted for scams and abusive financial products. The film also reveals how they are fighting back, and becoming...
House Bill 5622, sponsored by Representative Art Turner, and championed by Attorney General Lisa Madigan, institutes clear consumer protections in the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act for users of payroll cards. Businesses across the country, specifically industries that...
Since then, thousands of visitors have used the portal to understand the challenges facing their communities. If you have used the data portal in your work, we invite you to share your experience by taking our short survey. We...
A proposal giving private-sector workers access to a retirement savings program has cleared the Illinois Senate. The state Senate passed the measure 30-22 on Wednesday. The program would require businesses with 25 or more workers and no retirement savings...
The Illinois Senate today approved a program designed to encourage retirement savings by private sector workers. Sponsor Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) says the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act would offer a solution to "a looming retirement security crisis." Biss says...
The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Plan was approved on a 30-22 vote, the bare minimum for it to pass. Under the plan, workers at companies that have more than 25 employees and that do not offer a retirement plan...
Last year, our advocacy was aided by an outstanding series of articles in Crain’s Chicago Business that looked at the issue from a variety of perspectives. In their five-part interactive series, three Crain’s reporters documented the effect vacant properties...
Many may be the result of foreclosures — a process that, in Illinois, takes a whopping 800 days from filing to get the property back on the market. The average is about 565 days, making ours one of the...