Borrowing to Live: Consumer and Mortgage Credit Revisited

Acknowledgments

ix This book is the product of a symposium examining the challenges of improving outcomes for consumers and driving market efficiencies in the consumer credit system, while preserving the choice and access that borrowers with limited financial means and with subpar credit records have enjoyed. The goal of deepening our understanding of national consumer credit issues and exploring how best to formulate a more cogent government response to credit challenges was successfully accomplished, but only with the assistance of several dedicated parties. Principal funding for the symposium was provided by the Ford Foundation, Freddie Mac, and NeighborWorks® America, to whom we are indebted for seeing the value of sponsoring an event dedicated to researching , uncovering, and better understanding the challenges of the credit marketplace . We were fortunate to have worked with an extraordinary group of colleagues , all of whom contributed to making this project such a success. We would especially like to thank George McCarthy and Brandee McHale (formerly ) from the Ford Foundation, Edward Golding from Freddie Mac, and Ken Wade from NeighborWorks® America for the formative role they played in shaping the research questions addressed in this book. In addition, we owe a debt of gratitude to Ellen Seidman of Shorebank International and Michael Barr of the University of Michigan, who gave freely of their time and shared with us ideas that we incorporated into the design of the conference. We also thank the authors of the papers, who presented them at Acknowledgments the symposium, and the moderators and discussants, who made the event itself a lively debate and discussion of the issues. In addition to the book’s contributors , a group of representatives from the financial services industry and the academic and advocacy communities advised us early in the process and deserve special recognition: Konrad Alt of Promontory Financial Group; Michael Barr of the University of Michigan Law School; Joe Belew of the Consumer Bankers Association; Ray Boshara of the New America Foundation; Sandra Braunstein of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Keith Ernst of the Center for Responsible Lending; Edward Golding of Freddie Mac; Edward Gramlich of the University of Michigan; Sharon Hermanson of the AARP Public Policy Institute; Dean Karlan of Yale University; Elizabeth Renuart of the National Consumer Law Center; Kevin Rhein of Wells Fargo; Ellen Seidman of ShoreBank Corporation; Eldar Shafir of Princeton University; Joseph A. Smith Jr., North Carolina Commissioner of Banks; Michael Staten of the George Washington University Business School; Bonnie Tillen of Standard and Poor’s; Peter Tufano of the Harvard Business School; Ken Wade of NeighborWorks® America ; and Elizabeth Warren of the Harvard Law School. Deserving of special recognition is Ren Essene, who managed the development of the symposium. Her diligent efforts and intellectual contributions were vital to the success of this endeavor. We also would like to acknowledge William Apgar for sharing his excellent ideas with us and for his wise guidance at all stages of the initiative. Thanks also to Pamela Baldwin, Elizabeth England, Angela Flynn, Nancy Jennings, Jackie Hernandez, Laurel Gourd, and all of the staff at the Joint Center for Housing Studies for their hard work on the symposium. Last named here, but first in our hearts, we would like to thank Joan Retsinas and Cynthia Wilson for their support, encouragement, and always sage advice. x acknowledgments Borrowing to Live ...