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Reinvestment Alert 29: Refund Anticipation Loan Usage Rates Negatively Impact the Asset Building Potential of the Earned Income Tax Credit

February 09, 2006

Tom Feltner

 

This report analyzes 2002 IRS tax return data to determine the impact of refund anticipation loan usage among EITC recipients in communities across Illinois. The report also calculates the total amount of EITC dollars spent on high cost tax preparation and refund anticipation loan products in these same areas.

Blindfolded Into Debt: A Comparison of Credit Card Costs and Conditions at Banks and Credit Unions

July 05, 2005

Tim Westrich and Malcolm Bush

This report analyzes the deceptive effect of credit card terms and conditions and how these terms and conditions massively raise the cost of using credit cards and contribute to rising levels of consumer debt.

There Goes the Neighborhood: The Effect of Single-Family Mortgage Foreclosures on Property Values

June 14, 2005

Daniel Immergluck and Geoff Smith

This report shows that foreclosures have a significant negative effect on neighborhood property values. Although foreclosures have long been considered a problem associated with FHA loan programs, recent research has shown that the explosion in foreclosures that began in the 1990s was primarily driven by the growth of high-risk, conventional subprime lending.

Reinvestment Alert 28 - New Mortgage Pricing Data Sheds Light on Subprime Market

May 10, 2005

Geoff Smith

An analysis of new federal mortgage lending data confirms that high cost subprime lending tends to be concentrated in minority communities and to African American and Hispanic borrowers. Reinvestment Alert 28 is based on new 2004 HMDA data which includes pricing information for subprime loans.

The Impact of Single Family Mortgage Foreclosures on Neighborhood Crime

April 07, 2005

Dan Immergluck, Grand Valley State University
Geoff Smith, Woodstock Institute

Examines the impact of foreclosures of single-family mortgages – both conventional and government guaranteed – on levels of violent and property crime at the neighborhood level.