The Center for Responsible Lending (see www.responsiblelending.org) was created in 2002 to protect homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate predatory lending and other abusive financial practices. CRL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization that promotes responsible lending practices and access to fair terms of credit for low-wealth families. The Center is an affiliate of Self-Help (www.self-help.org), a community development lender founded in 1980 that creates and protects ownership opportunities for low-wealth families through home and small business ownership. It has provided over $5 billion in financing to help more than 55,000 low-wealth borrowers buy homes, start and build businesses, and strengthen community resources across the country.
Self-Help and the Center for Responsible Lending are national organizations based out of Durham, North Carolina with 7 regional offices in North Carolina, Washington DC, and California. Nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in community development lending, Self-Help is one of twelve nonprofits featured in Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits.