Special Report

• Financial Product Safety

  Tamara Draut

  The case for a new agency to put the needs of consumers first

• When Creditors are Predators

  Tim Fernholz

  We need to regulate to assure that loans work -- and stop the loans that work people over.

• Community Reinvestment: The Broader Agenda

  Mark Willis

  CRA has created a cadre of community-friendly bankers. It's time to bring reinvestment policy into the 21st century.

• Banks as Heroes

  Adam Serwer

  Community-development banks show what financial institutions can do when they have the right motivation and the right mission.

• Reversing the Damage

  John Taylor

  What will it take to resume credit flows to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods?

• A Bridge to Somewhere

  Janneke Ratcliffe

  How do we build the road from predatory lending to good financial services for all Americans?

• Don't Blame the Community Reinvestment Act

  Ellen Seidman

  Homeownership rates and CRA enforcement soared in the 1990s, but sub-prime came later. CRA shouldn't be the scapegoat for the housing meltdown.

• What Does Financial Capital Owe Society?

  Barry Zigas

  Corporate social responsibility is a worthy goal, but it's no substitute for regulation, subsidy, and government sponsorship of social institutions.

• Reforming Credit

  Robert Kuttner

  Our financial system needs to work for consumers at all income levels. A guide to the crisis, its causes, and cures.

• Regulation as Civic Empowerment

  Edmund Mierzwinski

  The policing of the financial system can't just be left to bureaucrats. Properly designed, regulation can be a community-organizing strategy.

• The Assault on the Black Middle Class

  Kai Wright

  Sub-prime lending was racially targeted and demolished decades of progress made by America's most diligent and striving people of color. How will America make amends?