Fast Cash, Less Refund

This paper presents findings on the use of refund anticipation loans in North Carolina in 2007. Refund anticipation loans are high-cost, short-term loans made to tax filers who are owed a refund on their federal taxes. Calculations of APRs for these loans (RALs) can run above 150 percent on an annualized basis. The loans are used by people who are cash-strapped. Loans cost approximately $100, but they allow filers to get their taxes done without paying for their tax prep fees until their refund arrives. The transaction features make this an appealing product to poor working families. Accordingly, their use is highest in areas with high concentrations of poor working families. Our report uses data from the Internal Revenue Service. We focus on North Carolina. The quantitative research is supplemented with a market analysis of these loans. We note that the banks that provide a line of credit to these banks are suddenly constrained. Regulators have intervened to limit these loans. Their concerns include the safety and soundness of the deposits, as well as the inability of the bank partners to document that tax preparers are trained and in compliance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Lending Act, and the Truth-In-Lending Act. We find that RALs are disproportionately utilized by tax filers in low-income and minority communities. We note that most of these filers qualify for a refund because they get the Earned Income Tax Credit. We compare the use of a RAL with IRA contributions. The report is complemented by GIS mapping

Cracking the Network Code: Four Principles for Grantmakers

As grantmakers and nonprofits are looking for ways to collaborate more effectively, many are experimenting working with and through networks to achieve greater impact. Because networks are by definition loosely controlled and emergent, understanding how to effectively support them feels like a mystery to many grantmakers.GEO's newest publication sets out to crack the code behind the network mystique. In fact, there is a method to working more efficiently and effectively through networks, and a critical first step for grantmakers is adopting a network mindset, which may require dramatic shifts in attitude and behavior for some. "Cracking the Network Code" outlines four principles that comprise the network mindset, illustrates the principles with a range of examples of networks that have achieved real results, and offers practical questions and recommendations to help grantmakers achieve the benefits and avoid common pitfalls of working through networks

Southern Post-Modernism, Anti-Romanticism and Gender Difference in Flannery O\u27Connor and Some Other Southern Contemporaries

Flannery O\u27 Connor has long been an established southern writer of the mid-twentieth century. This paper discusses briefly the tenets of both Modernism and Post-Modernism as literary movements of the twentieth-century, then looks specifically at how O\u27Connor\u27s fiction makes her a key hallmark figure in the movement known as Post-Modernism, but also as one of the first female southern writers to utilize very anti-Romantic themes and style. Further, this paper attempts to examine through a discussion of various contemporary male and female southern writers the depth of O\u27Connor\u27s influence on their own works. Attention is also given to the differences found in voice, theme and tone between southern contemporary male and female writers today, and explanations are offered as to why these marked differences exist

Exposing Predatory Lending - Special Issue of NeighborWorks Journal

Building wealth through home ownership is a goal supported from the White House to local community development corporations. Great strides have been made in removing barriers and creating opportunities for home ownership. Unfortunately, this good work and the equity of thousands of homeowners are being stripped away through predatory lending practices. The wealth of low-income communities, in the form of home equity that homeowners have worked for years to build, is being siphoned off through unscrupulous lending practices that focus on moderate- to low-income and minority communities

Empty Houses and Broken Dreams: An Analysis of the Impact of Foreclosures in Durham's Neighborhoods

This paper describes the scope of foreclosures in one North Carolina county (Durham). It breaks down the impact on neighborhoods, on different racial groups, and on older people. The study uses data on foreclosure starts for the first 10 months of 2007 in Durham County. Records of foreclosure events (which include not only foreclosures but also bank owned properties as well as notice of defaults registered at the county courthouse) come from RealtyTrac. The data is integrated with voting data to show the race and age of voters living in the households were foreclosures took place. Because of limitations to data, the paper cannot assert the specific relationship between borrower race and loan performance. The report includes maps, photographs, and interviews with local residents. It finishes with a set of policy options that leaders at municipal, state, and federal levels of government can consider to address the foreclosure issue. This paper was introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly in Feb. 2008

The Case for Banning Payday Lending: Snapshots from Four Key States

For years, community groups and advocates around the country have waged pitched battles to eliminate payday lending in their respective states. Notwithstanding extensive documentation of the payday lending debt trap and the billions of dollars payday lenders have systematically stripped from low-income families and communities, especially those of color, the payday lending industry has cannily built and exerted its political power in state capitols throughout the U.S. As a result, many states permit usurious payday lending, with often dire consequences for millions of payday loan borrowers already struggling to make ends meet. A key move in the industry's playbook is to convince states that the best way to address predatory payday lending is to regulate the industry. But regulations in states that authorize payday loans are too often written by industry and porous at best, and across the board fail to eliminate the hooks that trap people in these usurious and harmful loans. Other less subtle strategies the industry employs are to co-opt state legislators through generous campaign contributions, and to lobby aggressively against any and all attempts to prohibit or curtail payday lending. This report presents snapshots on payday loan regulation in four key states -- California, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. The snapshots are intended to provide helpful lessons and serve as a useful basis for comparison. Although New York has long prohibited payday lending altogether through its strong usury law, North Carolina opened the door to payday lending for five years before restoring its previous ban in 2001. Illinois, by contrast, has attempted to restrict payday lending through a series of legislative and regulatory reforms adopted over the past 12 years, many of which the industry immediately circumvented. California, for its part, has few payday loan regulations on the books. While some cities and counties in California have sought to curb payday lending by passing local ordinances, the industry has to date successfully thwarted all efforts to pass meaningful state-level protections.The four organizations that prepared the snapshots -- California Reinvestment Coalition, New Economy Project (formerly NEDAP), Reinvestment Partners, and Woodstock Institute -- offer their perspective as financial justice advocates that have been in the thick of payday lending battles in their home states. Their direct experience with a range of regulatory frameworks has shown that strong usury caps have proven the single most effective means of banning payday lending.The report comes at an exciting time. Advocates have spent years refuting and defending against the payday lending industry's shameless and aggressive lobbying, and there is now a clear turning of the tide. Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published a comprehensive study on storefront and bank payday loans, which showed how payday loans lead many borrowers to a long-term cycle of indebtedness. That same week, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued strong proposed guidance that would effectively rein in predatory payday lending by banks. There is an emerging chorus at local, state, and federal levels calling for an end to payday lending -- whether by banks, storefront payday lenders, or over the internet -- and the squeeze is now squarely on the industry. The changing dynamic will likely increase pressure in battleground states, such as California and Illinois, and we hope soon to see strong federal action that ends payday lending once and for all

Empreendedorismo social e comercial: iguais, diferentes ou ambos?

O empreendedorismo tem sido o motor que vem impelindo uma boa parcela do crescimento do setor dos negócios, além de ser a força motriz responsável pela rápida expansão desse setor. Neste artigo, oferece-se uma análise comparativa do empreendedorismo comercial e do social, valendo-se de um modelo analítico pre-valecente, proveniente da área de empreendedorismo comercial. Na análise, destacam-se as principais similaridades e diferenças entre essas duas formas de empreendedorismo e apresenta-se um arcabouço para uma abordagem mais sistemática e eficaz do processo empreendedor. Exploram-se as implicações dessa análise de empreendedorismo social tanto para seus praticantes como para seus pesquisadores.O emprendedurismo ha sido el motor que viene impeliendo una buena cuota del crecimiento del sector de negocios, además de ser la fuerza motriz responsable por la rápida expansión de este sector. Este artículo ofrece un análisis comparativo del emprendedurismo comercial y del social, valiéndose de un modelo analítico prevaleciente, proveniente del área del emprendedurismo comercial. El análisis destaca las principales semajanzas y diferencias entre esas dos formas de emprendedurismo y presenta un marco para un abordaje más sistemático y eficaz del proceso emprendedor. Exploramos las implicaciones de este análisis de emprendedurismo social tanto para sus practicantes como para sus investigadores.Entrepreneurship has been the engine propelling much of the growth of the business sector as well as a driving force behind the rapid expansion of the social sector. This article offers a comparative analysis of commercial and social entrepreneurship using a prevailing analytical model from commercial entrepreneurship. The analysis highlights key similarities and differences between these two forms of entrepreneurship and presents a framework on how to approach the social entrepreneurial process more systematically and effectively. We explore the implications of this analysis of social entrepreneurship for both practitioners and researchers