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After a long, hard struggle against the banking industry, community groups won strong anti-predatory lending regulations in Illinois.

Community groups filled the front seats at the April 17 meeting of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), where the regulations passed in an suprising 8-4 bi-partisan vote. Industry representatives opposing the regulations were forced to stand in the back of the room.

The regulations are modeled after the Chicago anti-predatory lending ordinance that passed in August. They prohibit predatory practices, such as prepayment penalties (under 3 years) and balloon payments (under 15 years), for high-cost loans. The practices steal equity from people's homes and often result in foreclosure.

Community groups also won the inclusion of an important prohibition of single-premium credit insurance that was left out of the city ordinance. Single premium credit insurance is very costly, forcing many homeowners into foreclosure, and usually has no benefit to the borrower.

After the vote, community groups celebrated with a press conference with Commissioner William Darr, one of the state regulators, and Sen. Barack Obama, the co-chair of JCAR. Both Darr and Obama commended community groups and the National Training and Information Center for their struggle to get the regulations passed. Obama also noted the incredible power that neighborhood residents can have when they get organized.

It was a great victory for all groups fighting predatory lending. Industry groups poured a ton of time and money into trying to get the regulations voted down. But in the end, it was the community groups that prevailed.