Prairie State Legal Services

The Prairie State Legal Firm provices or coordinates the delivery of high quality legal services to low income individuals, families or groups. The Prairie State Legal firm provides free legal consultation and representation to low-income and elderly persons throughout Illinois. The primary issues dealt with include housing, domestic abuse, and exploitation of the elderly and mentally/physically disabled.

Fall Internship 2004:

Issue: Predatory lending cases seem to be increasing, and does a lot of damage to people and communities. Predatory loans may include unrealistically high interest rates, balloon payments, or pre-payment penalties.

Goals: Interns were to review county court records or foreclosure cases in the Bloomington/Normal area over the last few years, and analyze for trends in interest rates, lending companies, legal representation and outcome, paying particular attention to predatory lending, and then report the findings for use by Prairie State.

Results: Although many obstacles prevented deeper analysis, initial findings show predatory lending in the Bloomington/Normal area has led to increasedd foreclosures, a slow economy, and increased unemployment. In addition, poor credit history prevents some low-income individuals from qualifying for prime interest rates they need to continue with mortgage rates.