SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Jazmine was laid off during the pandemic and needed money to pay her rent. So she got a loan from a pawn shop using her cameras and Macbook Air as collateral. “Not only did they give...
Reprinted from Nov. 16 Chicago Sun-Times letters to the Editor Friday was Veterans Day, when we honor and recognize veterans for their sacrifice of blood sweat and tears in service to our country. In Illinois, though, one way veterans...
Horacio Mendez’s opinion piece highlights an opportunity for federal bank regulators to raise the bar in grading banks reinvestment performance. I’m the first leader of the nearly 50-year-old economic equity and anti-redlining advocacy organization Woodstock Institute to come to...
Since 2006, federal Military Lending Act capped the interest rates for loans to active-duty servicemembers and their dependents at 36%, but recent consumer evidence shows pawn brokers still offering loans with 240%+ interest rate Update: you can download our...
WTTW roundtable on Monday, Oct. 31 framed the student loan debate as part of the racial wealth gap in a conversation that included CEO Horacio Mendez. About 48 million Americans have student loan debt — totaling more than $1.75...
Now is a good time to discuss what’s next for the Community Reinvestment Act as federal bank regulators review comments on proposed CRA regulatory reform. Join us for a virtual ‘lunch and learn’ on the topic with two experts...
In June 2023, Woodstock Institute will celebrate its 50th anniversary! In 1973 Sylvia Scheinfeld founded a conference center in Woodstock, Illinois to provide research and education during the movement against “redlining” in Chicago. Today, Woodstock Institute has evolved to...
For Immediate Release: September 27, 2022 Contact: Brent Adams | 773-844-5544 Jane Doyle | 708-527-7568 Predatory Lenders’ Predictions of Gloom-and-Doom Fail to Materialize as Consumers Embrace Illinois’s Interest Rate Cap ILLINOIS – To test predatory lenders’ claims about the...
Hello – My name in Horacio Mendez, and I’m the President and CEO of the Woodstock Institute, a consumer financial protection research and advocacy organization based in Chicago. We took this opportunity to examine areas where a combined entity...
photo above: Sr VP Policy and Communications Brent Adams, 3rd from left and Policy Associate Jane Doyle, far right, participated in Consumer Federation of America’s Consumer Assembly June 15. They and CEO Horacio Mendez also attended NCRC’s Just Economy...