The State of Lending in America and its Impact on U.S. Households
State of Lending is a series of three reports that provide an across-the-board survey of financial products that Americans use to handle everyday transactions, buy homes and automobiles, and build savings and wealth.
The three reports outline predatory lending practices in various fields of consumer lending, and explain why protecting fair, affordable access to credit is vital for both consumers and the U.S. economy. The reports also describe the regulatory and legislative actions needed to halt the predatory lending practices that exist today and prevent the rise of new abuses. Taken together, they are intended to inform the critical debate on how to rebuild our economy and invest in the future of American families.
America’s Household Balance Sheet
This chapter describes the overall financial status of U.S. households today and how financial challenges in the past decade have made Americans more vulnerable to predatory lending. It also describes how household financial health is central to our nation's economic well-being.
Abusive Practices in Traditional Lending
This documents both past and current lending abuses in traditional products, and outlines how abuses undermine the benefits these financial products can provide.
There are four chapters in this section of the report--click on the links below for more information and to read each chapter:
Coming in 2013:
Debt-Trap Lending
This report in the series will include chapters on payday and car title loans, overdraft loans, and bank payday loans-- financial products that trap consumers in expensive, long-term debt while being marketed as short-term solutions.
Abusive Practices in Debt Collection
This report will include chapters on abusive practices in debt servicing and collection of mortgages and student loans. Other chapters will cover abuses in debt settlement, debt buying, and "Zombie" debt.
The Cumulative Effect of Predatory Lending
The concluding chapter in the State of Lending series will document how lending abuses often target the same populations and have a cumulative--and particularly disastrous--impact on low-income households and communities of color.
Published: December 12, 2012
