Nonprime Loans: A View from the Local Level
Nonprime Loans: A View from the Local Level
This article presents information on the location of subprime and Alt-A mortgages ("nonprime" loans) in the five states within the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s district (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The purpose is to identify the zip codes and communities most affected, or at risk of being affected, by foreclosures. We present a series of maps that show the zip codes with the highest numbers and highest concentrations of subprime and Alt-A loans, as well as the past-due and foreclosure rates in these neighborhoods. For illustration purposes in the print version of this article, we present maps representing the Chicago and Detroit metropolitan areas. The full array of maps is available at the Chicago Fed’s Web site, www.chicagofed.org. These maps are designed to inform policymakers, lenders, and nonprofit organizations about where to target outreach, counseling, and other resources for remediation.
Bankruptcy: Three Years After the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005
Background
On October 17, 2005, a major U.S. federal bankruptcy reform law took effect. This
change (the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, a.k.a.
the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005) had been over 10 years in the making and represented
the culmination of years of effort on the part of both consumer advocates and lenders, as
well as regulators and others. This act amended the 1978 bankruptcy code, and was the most significant and
sweeping change since that date. We summarized this seminal change in bankruptcy, focusing on nonbusiness
filing ramifications, in the April 2006 edition of Profitwise News and Views (PNV).