Self-Help Credit Union, Durham, NC
www.self-help.org
Their Center for Responsible Lending has an advocacy team that litigates fair lending practices for victims of predatory lending facing foreclosures and financial ruin. Self-Help also engages in direct home lending to qualified low-income borrowers and has financed over $4 billion in loans through its secondary mortgage market programs. Self-Help purchases loans from partner banks, credit unions, and Community Investing Institutions, and sells them to Fannie Mae, helping give liquidity to these partner institutions. To be eligible for the program, loans must meet responsible lending standards - meaning that no high-cost loans are included. This results in preserving home ownership opportunities for working-class Americans, particularly people of color.
Permaculture Credit Union, Santa Fe, NM.
www.pcuonline.org
The web site says, "The history of financial institutions is one of focus on the bottom line which results in overexploitation of the earth's resources. Now, an innovative new financial institution - Permaculture Credit Union - allows its members to share their excess with other members of like mind who would use it for sustainable projects and, at the same time, take care of the Earth." Now that's a bank!
Started in 2000, Permaculture provides loans for environmentally conscious projects. Members can apply for small loans of $5000 -30,000 at discounted rates for home energy efficiency upgrades; renewable energy generation; permaculture landscaping; water catchment and delivery; farm machinery; and fuel efficient automobiles.
Wainwright Bank & Trust Company (Nasdaq: WAIN), Boston, MA.
www.wainwrightbank.com
Founded in 1987, Wainwright Bank serves neighborhoods in the Boston area, offering commercial loans for affordable housing, homeless shelters, HIV/AIDS service, community health centers, and environmental protection.
The bank finances the purchase and preservation of land including New Hampshire's Connecticut Lakes property, the largest unbroken tract of privately held forestland in the state. It provides lines of credit and other types of short-term financing to nonprofits like Silent Spring Institute (Newton, MA.) and Earthwatch Institute, and financed the Union of Concerned Scientists headquarters, among others. It screens all its investments based on social and environmental criteria. Its GreenLoan home equity loan gives a discounted rate to people that install solar energy systems.
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Find community banks.
Responsible credit cards.
Global Alliance for Banking on Values Members:
Alternative Bank ABS, Switzerland
Banca Popolare Etica, Italy
Banex, Banco del Exito, Nicaragua
BRAC Bank and BRAC Microfinance Programme, Bangladesh
GLS Bank, Germany
Merkur Bank, Denmark
Mibanco, Banco de la Microempresa, Peru
New Resource Bank, United States
ShoreBank Corporation, United States
Triodos Bank, The Netherlands
XacBank, Mongolia, http://www.xacbank.com/
