PAYDAY LOANS AND THEIR $7.4 BILLION ANNUAL BILL

This post originally appeared at the Illinois Asset Building Group blog. Chicago Appleseed is an IABG partner and Katy Welter is a researcher with the IABG's Alternative Small Dollar Loan project.  Each year, 12 million borrowers spend approximately $7.4 billion on payday loans. Who and where are t...
August 3, 2012

Bond Court Reforms: A Second Look for Diversion Programs

By Michael Levy, Staff Attorney at Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice At a press conference on July 13, 2012, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a major step toward reforming Cook County’s criminal justice system with the implementation of a coordinated diversion program in central bo...
July 19, 2012

From the ARDC: Loan Modification Scammers Recruiting Lawyers

The Illinois Registration & Disciplinary Commission issued this alert today with respect to fraudulent loan modification. Ethics Alert Loan Modification Scammers Recruiting Lawyers Lawyers, particularly sole and small firm practitioners, are increasingly becoming the target of loan modification...
May 10, 2012

Featured Resource: OpenPensions.org

While we don't normally write about public finance, we support any efforts to increase government transparency. Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer's Open Pensions website does just this. Commissioner Gainer is chairwoman of the County's pension oversight committee. The site addresses an import...
April 18, 2012

Small Dollar Lending Guidelines from the CFPB

This post originally appeared the Illinois Asset Building Group Blog.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)  released "Examination Procedures: Short-term, Small Dollar Lending," (pdf) which are guidelines for examining small dollar loan products. The guidelines are written for financial...
April 11, 2012