By Stephanie Zimmerman, November 26, 2021 Using 2019 borrower loan data obtained from state regulators, the nonprofit Woodstock Institute found the top ZIP codes for payday loans, excluding the Loop, were majority-Black… Brent Adams, senior vice president of the...
By Jeff Hirsch, November 4, 2021 Brent Adams, of the Illinois-based Woodstock Institute, a liberal policy study group, says borrowers initially feel they will be able to repay say, $500 on time. But, he says, “research shows that a...
By Steve Daniels, October 21, 2021 “This (lawsuit) is painting the Federal Reserve into a corner,” says Horacio Mendez, CEO of Chicago-based Woodstock Institute, a 48-year-old fair-lending organization. “I don’t believe this is a delay. I think they have...
By David Nicklaus, October 21, 2021 Horacio Mendez, president of the Woodstock Institute in Chicago, called the data “prima facie evidence” of “egregious redlining.” Woodstock, which does research on economic justice, joined the coalition seeking to block the merger. Complicating the...
By James Drew, October 19, 2021 SLEHCRA and two other groups, the Woodstock Institute and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, submitted letters Monday opposing the merger to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In addition to urging regulators to...
A city neighborhood isn’t merely a hodgepodge of housing and businesses. It’s an amalgam of anchoring entities that keep it alive and thriving, that gives it a defining sense of community. Those anchors include schools, of course. Churches. Parks....
By Oscar Perry Abello, September 14, 2021 The audit’s arrival at the end of August is timely, as Chicago City Council is set to vote today on a measure that would update and strengthen Chicago’s Responsible Banking Ordinance and...
By Claudia Morell and Linda Lutton, September 14, 2021 “…In addition to providing lending data, banks would have to provide an annual racial breakdown of their staff, something that’s already required of many companies that do business with the...
Consumer advocates say the law protects car buyers by making the true cost of their auto loans more clear, and could pressure lenders to offer more favorable terms. The law does not apply to loans from banks, but does...
…If advocates here want to see how a state can change course, they can look to Illinois and Hawaii, which this year created laws to impose a 36 percent interest cap on payday lenders. Close to 20 states use a similar limit....