More women will declare bankruptcy than get college degrees this year. Over one quarter of U.S. households are unbanked or underbanked, and 85 percent of these consumers are people of color. For every dollar that white Americans have, Latinos have 12 cents and African-Americans have 10 cents.

Woodstock Institute applauds the Senate for taking a bold stand on behalf of America’s consumers. The Restoring American Financial Stability Act passed last night lays the groundwork for a healthier financial system that will hold banks accountable, protect consumers, and be more transparent—and, ultimately, help prevent another devastating financial crisis.

Woodstock Institute and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) reached out to key Senators on Tuesday to express their support for interstate lending reform, which would ensure that out-of-state lenders could no longer supersede state interest rate limits that apply to local banks, credit unions, and other lenders.

Do car dealers charge you an up-front fee before you step onto the lot?  Does a real estate agent to charge you a fee before he or she shows you a home?  Obviously not.  But for years, debt settlement companies have gotten away with charging high fees before providing consumers with any debt relief at all.  That’s about to change, however, as the Illinois General Assembly moved to ensure that debt settlement companies get paid for the work they do, not for the work they promise to do in the future, by passing the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act (HB4781).

In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, safe and sustainable credit will be necessary to revitalize neighborhoods, especially in those communities that have been hardest hit. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has driven trillions of dollars of safe and sound credit into low-wealth communities since its enactment in 1977. Experts from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), the National Urban League, National People’s Action, and more made the case at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the CRA that expanding and modernizing this critical tool would help get America back on the path to recovery. Currently, the CRA Modernization Act of 2009 contains the important provisions critical to updating and expanding the CRA, although we expect a revised bill to be released this year.

Woodstock Institute and over 300 local and national consumer and community organizations called for immediate Congressional action on a proposal to put Americans back to work and prevent more layoffs and cuts in crucial frontline services.  The proposal, the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812), would provide $100 billion over two years, creating or saving 750,000 jobs providing local services and 250,000 education jobs.