Episode 42: Credit Access

When used responsibly, credit can improve and better one’s life. In this episode of Making Cents of Money, Camaya Wallace Bechard from the University of Illinois Extension joins us again to breakdown the importance of access to credit, options for building and improving credit, and warning signs of discrimination and laws in place to prevent that. Additional Resources Consumer Rights • CFPB Consumer Laws & Regulations: Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) - https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201306_cfpb_laws-and-regulations_ecoa-combined-june-2013.pdf • FTC Credit and Your Consumer Rights - https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0070-credit-and-your-consumer-rights • Illinois Fair Housing Provisions - https://www2.illinois.gov/dhr/FilingaCharge/Pages/FAQ_Section_VI.aspx#Q1 Discrimination • CFPB Analysis of Differences between Consumer- and Creditor-Purchased Credit Scores - https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201209_Analysis_Differences_Consumer_Credit.pdf • University of Illinois Office for Access & Equity - Disparate Treatment and Disparate Impact - https://oae.illinois.edu/discrimination.html Report Discrimination and Fraud: • CFPB Complaint Portal: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/ • FTC Report Fraud Portal: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/ Implicit Bias Education Tools: • Project Implicit, Social Attitudes – Harvard University - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.jsp • Implicit Bias Module Series – Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity - http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/implicit-bias-training/ University of Illinois Extension Consumer Economics resources - https://extension.illinois.edu/finances or go.illinois.edu/finances