AARP 2009 Inspire Award winners

Martin Eakes bet his career on a contrarian notion: poor people are better at borrowing money than the rich. His Durham, North Carolina community credit union, Self-Help, serves a clientele of classic credit risks — among them, low-income families and single mothers. The default rate for these so-called toxic borrowers? About one percent.

“If I have a choice between making a loan to a rich person or one to a poor person, solely on grounds of credit risk, I’ll pick a poor person every time,” says Eakes. “They simply take care of their debts better.”

Since Eakes started Self-Help in 1984, it has provided more than $5.24 billion in financing to 60,130 homebuyers, small businesses, and nonprofits. In 1999, he led the battle for North Carolina’s pioneering anti-predatory-lending law and, as early as 2002, warned federal legislators that corrupt financial practices had set the scene for a massive wave of foreclosures. He’s now battling to make sure that the subprime mortgage meltdown doesn’t further victimize the most vulnerable.

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