CDFIs may be able to help reduce those discrepancies by using their local knowledge and financial expertise to offer alternatives to conventional subprime lending. The Opportunity Finance Network, for instance, will be competing with subprime lenders via a mortgage-credit platform that centralizes some CDFI lending processes and directly links counseling and lending services.
The U.S. economy has been favorable, underpinned in part by fiscal policy, and the inflation rate is expected to be at around 2 percent for the time being. As for the European economy, although the rapid growth in the second half of 2017 came to a halt, private consumption and corporate investment have been solid.