A whopping 44 percent of Mission District residents don't have low credit scores. They have NO credit scores. Without them, the only loans they can get are the loans no one wants - those with pricey interest rates and harsh terms. And if doors to affordable credit seemed closed to these consumers before the financial meltdown, they're slammed shut now.
A whopping 44 percent of Mission District residents don't have low credit scores. They have NO credit scores. Without them, the only loans they can get are the loans no one wants - those with pricey interest rates and harsh terms. And if doors to affordable credit seemed closed to these consumers before the financial meltdown, they're slammed shut now.
This week's G-20 summit is essentially an echo chamber for
the world's wealthy to talk macrofinance. The world economy might rebound more
quickly if they listen to what the poor have to say about microfinance.
While there is little to celebrate in the current foreclosure disaster, one potential
silver lining in the large number of bank-owned properties is the opportunity
to turn those properties into community assets. A May 2008 conference
hosted by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New
York University and sponsored by the Ford Foundation brought together policy experts and
practitioners to share best practices for “Transforming Foreclosed Properties into Community
Assets.” Most of the discussion focused on what can be done by partners… more
Remember fieldtrips? All 535 members of Congress should take one this week to Room 675 of the County Courthouse in Philadelphia. Doing so would bust some myths surrounding the "cram down" legislation – now stalled in the Senate – that would allow bankruptcy judges to reduce payments on troubled mortgages.
