Geoff Smith and Sarah Duda

This report analyzed Chicago region foreclosure auction and property transfer data and found that vacant, lender-owned properties are heavily concentrated in African American communities, go unsold longer, and incur greater losses to the lender than similar properties in predominantly white communities.

press release

Sarah Duda and Tom Feltner

Analysis of Circuit Court of Cook County filings by one large payday lending showing the shift from short-term loans, cover by Payday Loan Reform Act consumer protections, to longer-term installment loans not covered by the act. The report also looks at the debt collection process.

Geoff Smith and Sarah Duda

This report analyzed credit score data from a major national credit bureau in large Illinois zip codes and found significant disparities in credit characteristics between communities of color and predominantly white communities, as well as between major metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas. The report explains the importance of credit scores and how they are used, and recommends several policies to improve economic opportunity for people and communities impacted by low credit scores. Included is an appendix with demographics and credit score averages and distributions for large Illinois zip codes.

This report examined geographical, gender-related, and chapter choice trends in data from federal bankruptcy courts in Cook County. It found that women make up a larger share of individual bankruptcy filers in all communities, and a dramatically larger share in African American communities, than men do. Additionally, bankruptcy filers in African-American communities are more than twice as likely as filers in predominantly white communities to choose Chapter 13 bankruptcy. The report concludes with recommendations to improve economic opportunity for individuals in African-American communities.

Press release |  Fact sheet |  Video | Audio Briefing (mp3)

Paying More for the American Dream V examines changes in conventional refinance lending between 2008 and 2009 in seven metropolitan areas: Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York City, and Rochester, NY. It also compares 2009 loan denial rates across neighborhoods. In all seven cities analyzed, lenders denied loan applications at significantly higher rates in communities of color than in predominantly white neighborhoods. The report concludes with policy recommendations to improve access to sustainable credit in communities of color.

press release | briefing (mp3)

This report examines financial products that take advantage of the economic vulnerability of older persons and highlights key features of some alternatives. It is based on extensive conversations with leading members of the policy and advocacy community, financialservices industry, and bank regulatory agencies. The report concludes with recommendations for both bank regulatory andfinancial institution policy to advance financial products that protect the economic security of older persons.

press release

This report analyzes 2007 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data and finds that, in low- and moderate-income communities, depositories with CRA obligations originate a far smaller share of higher-cost loans than lenders not subject to CRA.  It also finds that lenders covered by CRA are much less likely to make higher-cost loans in communities of color than lenders not covered by CRA.

Geoff Smith, Sarah Duda, and Malcolm Bush

This report demonstrates that measuring how well a bank provides basic banking services to low-wealth consumers could be done using existing data. Using proprietary data collected from two bank branches located in low-wealth communities, it shows that the type of transaction level data, previously thought to be unavailable to regulators and costly to collect for financial institutions, is routinely collected by at least one large bank for marketing purposes.

Geoff Smith

An analysis of 2007 foreclosure filings shows that 35 percent, or over 4,800 foreclosure filings, were on 2- to 6-units multifamily properties. Communities with the highest concentrations of foreclosures on 2- to 6-unit properties include West Garfield Park, East Garfield Park, Austin, Humboldt Park on the West Side and New City, Englewood, and West Englewood on the South Side.