Testimony of Marva Williams, Woodstock Institute Senior Vice President requesting conditional approval of the H& R Block application to become a de novo thrift regulated by the OTS. Approval should only be granted if H&R Block makes a commitment to affirmatively address the lending patterns of H&R Block's subprime affiliate, Option One, commit to reducing the impact of refund anticipation loans on recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and several other issues.
Marva Williams, Woodstock Institute Senior Vice President, states that Woodstock Institute neither supports nor opposes the proposed acqusition of Bank One by New York based JP Morgan Chase. She also states that federal banking regulators should take a bank's performance under a community reinvestment agreement into consideration during their ongoing CRA public examinations.
Testimony before the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on OTS’s actions to weaken CRA. Comments offered suggestions to promote improvements to CRA that would increase access to lending, investments, and services in low- and moderate-income markets such as the requiring the continued reporting of small business lending data for mid-sized banks and thrifts. They also requested that the OTS collect data on new retail accounts opened for low- and moderate-income households; and promoting investment in declining and underserved rural markets.
Testimony of Geoff Smith, Project Director of Woodstock Institute focusing on the persistent disparities seen in the mortgage lending market, the impact that these disparities have on neighborhoods; and what the Federal Reserve Board can do to curb abusive lending practices.
Testimony of Geoff Smith, Project Director at Woodstock Institute, before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation
regarding the need for and implementation of the HB 4050 predatory lending database pilot program.
