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From
the President: Illinois Community Investment Coalition fights for
financial reform on Capitol Hill
 Financial reform
is at a critical juncture in Washington. The House has already passed
a bill to create a strong
and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency
(CFPA) to put consumers’ interests over those of Wall Street
and crack down on the risky lending that spurred
the financial crisis. However, Senate Banking Committee
Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) continues to compromise the
agency’s independence in the interest of bipartisan
support. Read
more...
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OCC
releases new RAL policy, but enforcement must be effective to protect
consumers
The
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released a Policy
Statement on Tax-Related Products
and a Consumer
Advisory on February 18, one
month into the current tax season. The OCC is the U.S. Treasury
Department agency that regulates national banks. Several national banks
offer tax refund anticipation loans or RALs through partnerships with
tax preparation services.
Although these OCC actions come too late to protect millions of
consumers who have already been harmed by deceptive marketing and
high-cost RALs this tax season, Woodstock Institute welcomes the OCC
efforts as a step in the right direction. The new OCC Policy will be
effective only if it is rigorously enforced, however. Read
more...
Related: Refund
anticipation loans: Just say no!
Related: Educate
your communities about the dangers of RALs
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Credit
to the community: proposals offer new funding source for CDFIs, expand
SBA community express
Keeping
credit flowing to small businesses is critical, especially in times of
recession and high unemployment. Small
businesses are engines
for job creation, creating
roughly 80 percent of new jobs and employing over half of private
sector employees. Ensuring that small businesses are equipped to grow
through productive, sustainable credit and create new jobs will be a
vital component of economic recovery. Read
more...
Related:
Guest
blog: We need consumer financial protection and reform
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AG
Madigan Takes On Abusive Debt Settlement Companies
After
Darren Robinson lost his job at a factory, he and his girlfriend Julie
Fitzpatrick accrued almost $10,000 in credit card debt paying for
living expenses and medical bills. Fitzpatrick found a company online
that promised to make them debt free. The couple told the Chicago
Tribune that they paid almost
$1,500 in fees to the debt settlement company. After a few months, only
$2,000 of the debt was settled, and their debts ballooned to $12,000 as
collection calls and fees increased. Read
more...
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Looking
for information on the foreclosure crisis in the Chicago metro area?
Visit
the Regional Home Ownership Preservation Initiative's website at www.regionalhopi.org.
The RHOPI site is a one-stop shop for foreclosure information in the
Chicago region, such as success stories of local efforts to forge
solutions to the foreclosure problem, events, resources for homeowners
and renters in trouble because of foreclosure, regional and national
research, and data and indicators.
New at RHOPI: Tools
for municipalities to tackle the vacant properties problem
Related: HAMP
Loan Modifications Not Making Serious Dent: January
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In
this issue
Recent Work
 Government
Interventions Have a Limited Impact on Chicago Area Foreclosure
Activity in 2009
February
2010
Diverted
Opportunity: Refund Anticipation Loans Drain Wealth from Low Wealth Tax
Filers and Communities of Color
January
2010
Collaborators
or Competitors? Exploring the Relationships between Community
Development Financial Institutions and Conventional Lenders in Small
Business Finance
November
2009
[+]
View All Publications
Save
the Date
25th
Annual Community Reinvestment Reception
April 1, 2010
4-6 pm
Harris Bank
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