This report uses public court files to document the loan terms, conditions, and litigation tactics of one of the largest payday lenders in Illinois. The findings are based on a sample of 444 debt collection cases filed against payday loan customers.

Profiles model small business lending programs around the country that target modest-income communities. Examples include bank-community partnerships, specialized bank units, multibank efforts, government-administered programs, and CDFIs. The report also offers lessons for effectively reaching underserved markets.

Analyzes job patterns in the Chicago Empowerment Zone (EZ), examining demographics of those who work in the EZ, the number of EZ jobs held by EZ residents, and the work locations of EZ residents. The report provides examples of efforts in Chicago and around the country aimed at linking neighborhood residents to nearby jobs and calls for increased attention to the barriers between jobs and residents in low-income urban areas.

Between 1990 and 1996 there was a large increase in the number of lower-income home buyers in the Chicago region. This good news is tempered by the facts of where these households were able to purchase homes. Most of them bought in Chicago and suburban Cook County. Unless lower-income buyers have a choice of homes throughout the six-county region, they will not gain the full benefits of homeownership.

Examines home lending patterns in the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph area. Identifies possible lending disparities and community credit needs. Highlights ways to improve access to affordable mortgage credit for low-and moderate-income community residents, particularly those in Benton Harbor. Includes recommendations for local planning and action.

This report analyzes how sectoral networks, a fairly recent innovation in microenterprise development in the United States, facilitate the establishment of formal and informal alliances between firms producing similar products or services.  The programs profiled are: Rural Ohio's Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) Food Ventures program; and the Chicago-based Women's Business Development Center's (WBDC) Apparel Roundtable. The report describes each program's technical assistance, mentorship, and networking services and how the programs affect job creation, increased sales, and improved entrepreneurial capacity.

Utilizing extensive data analysis, this alert shows how community development banks have grown in size and financial strength while at the same time serving their community development mission.

Analyzes patterns of small business lending in Milwaukee, WI and discovers significant discrepancies in such lending by race and income of neighborhood.

Uses new CRA data to analyze lending by 50 largest small business lenders in the Chicago area. Ranks lenders by their tendency to lend to lower-income areas and smaller firms in such areas.

This study finds that minorities and lower-income people who use these "fringe banks" pay higher prices for basic financial services. In addition to demonstrating the high costs charged by CEs, this Alert makes recommendations aimed at encouraging greater use of banks by these CE users, at reducing excessive fees charged by CEs, and at increasing consumer awareness of the relative costs of financial services.