The current scale of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures - particularly in the subprime market - has sparked a renewed debate over the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the regulations governing home mortgage lending. On one side, detractors argue that the CRA helped to precipitate the...

The distribution of wealth in the United States is more highly skewed than the distribution of income. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of homeowners and renters. Those who own their homes typically have about 20 to 40 times more net wealth than those who rent. ; Although home equity...

Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are designed to improve economic conditions for low-income individuals and communities by providing a range of financial products and services that often are not available from mainstream lenders and financiers. ; Part I of this paper reviews...

The relatively low rate of mortgage default and foreclosure in California in recent years obscures the fact that many Californians have high-cost home loans that they cannot afford. High cost loans are particularly common in low-income and minority communities, suggesting that those who can...

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks directly connect computer users online. Popular P2P platforms include eBay and Craigslist, for example, which have transformed the market for used consumer goods in recent years. Increasingly popular, however, are P2P lending sites that facilitate debt transactions by...

Studies have shown that “experiential learning” can result in significant knowledge gains in a number of subject areas, but how does “learning by doing” fit into the context of financial education? This new working paper explores this topic and analyzes data from the 2008 Jump$tart...

Americans of all races and income levels recognize homeownership as a quintessential part of the American dream. This belief, along with federal policy that encourages homeownership and increased access to credit, has contributed to a dramatic rise in the number of families that own their home,...

This report is an expanded version of a case study that appeared as one of 16 community profiles published in “The Enduring Challenge of Concentrated Poverty in America: Case Studies from Communities Across the U.S.,” a joint project of the Community Affairs Offices of the Federal Reserve...

This study examines the nature of the interaction of banks and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in small business lending. We examine the experience of six different CDFIs that vary by size, corporate structure, and market. We explore how they both collaborate and compete...

For thirty years, the community development finance industry—banks, credit unions, loan funds, community development corporations, venture funds, microfinance institutions—has quietly provided responsible, well-designed and well priced credit to lower-income people and communities. These...