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Written by Americans for Financial Reform
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June 17, 2009 |
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On Wednesday, June 17, President Obama announced his administration's sweeping, important, and positive changes to the ways in which financial markets are regulated. Along with Americans for Financial Reform, a
200-plus member coalition dedicated to reforming the financial system
and rebuilding our economy, Woodstock Institute has offered several recommendations.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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June 16, 2009 |
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The National Community Reinvestment Coalition and dozens of Chicago region community reinvestment stakeholders, including Woodstock Institute, met outside Wells Fargo offices in Chicago to demand “Jobs & Homes Now!”
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 28, 2009 |
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Measuring how well a bank provides basic banking services to low-wealth consumers could be done using existing data, according to a study released by Woodstock Institute analyzing marketing data from one large bank. |
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Written by Monsignor John Egan Campaign for Payday Loan Reform
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May 27, 2009 |
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The Consumer Installment Loan Reform Act (SB 1435) was defeated in the House Executive Committee on Tuesday night with one aye vote, two nay votes, and eight present votes. SB 1435 would have ensured that all Illinoisans have access to credit with reasonable rates and protections to guard against the cycle of debt.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 22, 2009 |
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The results of the financial “stress tests” conducted banking regulators offers about as clear a picture of the stability of the nation’s largest financial institutions as we are likely to get. With the removal of at least a bit of uncertainty about the future of individual financial institutions, there is a real opportunity to turn public attention towards the future of the regulatory landscape for the financial services sector as whole. Woodstock believes that this future should offer increased transparency, stronger accountability to public financial services needs, and a minimum safety standard for financial products.
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Written by Dory Rand
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May 19, 2009 |
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The U.S. Senate passed credit card reform legislation on May 19 that would limit some of the most abusive practices by lenders and require lenders to ensure that college students have the ability to repay credit card debts.
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Written by Geoff Smith
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May 18, 2009 |
A recent fact sheet released by Woodstock Institute shows that in the Chicago Six County area foreclosure filing activity increased by over 36 percent between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 14, 2009 |
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Millions of Americans are mired in credit card debt and Washington is trying
to reign in credit card companies for what many consider to be abusive
and deceptive practices. Dory Rand, President of Woodstock Institute discussed the impact of credit cards on low-wealth consumers and communities of color on Eddie Arruza's Chicago Tonight segment, The Bottom Line.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 12, 2009 |
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Chicago – With growing pressure for stronger oversight of federal investments in major financial institutions and the results of the stress tests made public, community advocates throughout the Chicago region met at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to ask the next big question–when will lending and investment in low-wealth communities pick up?
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 08, 2009 |
In recent months numerous articles
have unfairly blamed the current financial crisis on efforts to increase lower-income
homeownership. The Wall Street Journal's "Regulation Didn't Save Canada's Banks," by Marie-Josee
Kravis is just the latest.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 07, 2009 |
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In the mid 1990s, changes to the Community Reinvestment Act set off a series of community reinvestment agreements between Chicago-region community reinvestment advocates and the City’s largest financial institutions. One of the earliest of these agreements in Chicago was negotiated by Woodstock Institute and the Chicago CRA Coalition during the acquisition of First Chicago NBD by Bank One in 1998. The agreement resulted in a commitment from Bank One to carry out a pilot of a “second chance” checking product that was eventually expanded successfully to all of Bank One’s markets.
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Written by Dory Rand
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May 06, 2009 |
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ recent report
entitled “The CRA and Subprime Lending: Discerning the Difference” concludes
that the Community Reinvestment Act “is unequivocally not to blame for the
housing market’s fall. The numbers just don’t add up.” Moreover,
data from the Board’s staff report suggest that the CRA prevented the subprime
situation from being more severe.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 05, 2009 |
Woodstock Institute joined Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias
and the Community Reinvestment
Organizing Project in announcing the adoption of the state’s Commitment
to Community Reinvestment Policy. The policy requires all
state depositories to certify that they provide access to mortgages, financial
services and small business lending throughout their service area, including
low-wealth communities.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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May 04, 2009 |
Woodstock Institute joined Senator
Durbin on May 4 to announce S.566,
a bill to create Financial Products Safety Commission. The commission,
originally proposed by Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight
Panel, would monitor the products and services offered by financial institutions
and work to eliminate the negative impact of financial products on
consumers.
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Written by Dory Rand
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April 24, 2009 |
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Critics of the CRA (Community
Reinvestment Act) have claimed the act played a key role in the subprime
meltdown, but numbers don’t support that claim, according to research recently
released by a multi-state collaboration of regional research, policy, and
advocacy organizations.
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Written by Dory Rand
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April 22, 2009 |
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In a significant victory for consumers, the House Financial Services Committee passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights (H.R. 627) by a vote of 48 to 19. The bill now moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration. |
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Written by Dory Rand
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April 16, 2009 |
Stephen Colbert of the Colbert
Report did a great
piece on Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez’ so-called Payday Loan Reform
Act of 2009 (H.R. 1214). Colbert notes that although Rep. Gutierrez used to
be on the side of consumers, introducing legislation in previous sessions to ban
payday loans, he recently changed his tune and has introduced a bill to codify
payday loans with rates over 700 percent interest. Colbert suggests that this
shift in policy position might have occurred because of recent campaign
contributions from the payday industry.
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Written by Dory Rand
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April 13, 2009 |
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The anti-predatory mortgage lending bill proposed by House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank, H.R. 1728, contains many good provisions but several problematic provisions as well.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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April 08, 2009 |
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In recognition of her steadfast leadership of the U.S.
Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI)
Fund, and exemplary accomplishment delivering capital to the front lines of
community economic development, Woodstock Institute presented its Annual
Community Reinvestment Award to the Fund’s director, Donna Gambrell at an event
on April 2, 2009.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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April 07, 2009 |
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With triple digit interest rate consumer loans
continuing to evade consumer protections in several states, including Illinois, Senator Dick
Durbin today announced the Protecting
Consumers from Unreasonable Credit Rates Act of 2009, which would establish
a federal interest rate cap of 36 percent.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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March 31, 2009 |
Chicago – As
states across the country put strong restrictions on payday loans, including
rate caps and restrictions on abusive refinancing, a new bill
introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and currently being debated by
Congress would undermine consumer protection efforts by permitting triple digit
interest rates and offering troubled borrowers only an insufficient repayment
plan to break the cycle of debt.
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Written by Dory Rand
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February 26, 2009 |
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Currently about half of all workers lack workplace pensions or retirement plans. Among the President’s many bold ideas outlined in his recent address to Congress and 2010 budget are two little-noticed proposals for helping people build retirement security.
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Written by Tom Feltner and Geoff Smith
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February 05, 2009 |
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Renegotiating unaffordable loans has been central to foreclosure prevention efforts under two administrations, but mortgage servicers lack incentives to aggressively pursue significant and sustainable loan modifications.
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Written by Dory Rand
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January 30, 2009 |
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The Treasury Department and Congressional committees have recently taken several steps in the right direction regarding the financial crisis.
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Written by Geoff Smith
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January 28, 2009 |
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The Chicago region housing market is likely to remain weak, and serious concerns about the performance of Alt-A and prime mortgages will take center stage in 2009.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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January 22, 2009 |
The zoning restriction placed on payday lenders by the Springfield City Council is a much needed step in the decade long struggle to rein in the worst abuses of the payday loan industry.
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Written by Dory Rand
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January 21, 2009 |
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The U.S. Treasury Department is now requiring banks that received the most funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) to report on use of those funds, and not a moment too soon.
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Written by Dory Rand
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January 21, 2009 |
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President Obama said in his inaugural speech today that
“a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success
of our economy has always depended … on the reach of our prosperity; on our
ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart….” As we “begin again
the work of remaking America,”
we need to remember and apply some key messages from the speech to address the
economic crisis.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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January 12, 2009 |
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As banks and other lenders across the country tighten credit requirements and close down lending facilities, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) continue to make quality investments in underserved neighborhoods.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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December 18, 2008 |
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The Federal Reserve is set to take unprecedented measures to protect consumers from the credit card industry’s worst practices, such as interest rate hikes on existing balances. The final rule, expected to pass today, is the culmination of over two years of debate on how to best protect consumers from the arbitrary interest rate hikes and high fees that have come to characterize the $970 billion industry.
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Written by Tom Feltner
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December 10, 2008 |
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Written by Tom Feltner
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December 09, 2008 |
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Maps of neighborhood foreclosures and lender-owned, largely vacant properties, based on Woodstock Institute foreclosure data, are now available through EveryBlock, an online resource for block-by-block neighborhood news.
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Written by Geoff Smith and Sarah Duda
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November 13, 2008 |
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A new analysis finds that these properties are highly concentrated in African American and Latino communities.
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Written by Geoff Smith
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October 15, 2008 |
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To help combat the growing lending crisis and the rise of
foreclosures in Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is
investing $68 million in grants and low-interest loans in foreclosure
prevention and mitigation efforts in local neighborhoods.
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Written by Dory Rand
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October 10, 2008 |
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In recent months numerous critics have unfairly blamed the current financial crisis on efforts to increase lower-income homeownership.
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