SRI Responds to Fair Lending

There are four important votes coming before shareholders of banks and financial services firms during the upcoming annual meetings.

Calvert will ask shareholders of BB&T and Capitol One to evalute “overdraft policies and practices and the impacts these practices have on borrowers.”

Christian Brothers Investment Services will ask shareholders of Cash America, a large payday lender, to adopt a policy that ends payday lending.

The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina is asking shareholders of JP Morgan Chase to “cease its current practice of issuing Refund Anticipation Loans.”

I am thrilled to see the socially responsible investment community acting to address these issues. This movement has been very active in pursuing important causes for environmental health and human rights.  There has been less attention to financial issues. That day has come. Perhaps this reflects how even the well-off have been hurt by the subprime lending crisis. My only lament is that there are not more than four ballot initiatives.