> You're making it sound as if lenders don't apply criteria such as race out of high-minded civic duty and a commitment to ethics. I work for such a lender. Ye

> You're making it sound as if lenders don't apply criteria such as race out of high-minded civic duty and a commitment to ethics. I work for such a lender. Yes, that is precisely what I am saying. Although I might call it "basic ethics" not "high-minded civic duty". Typically now "you" (someone raising this issue, because I don't want to put words in your mouth) point out that corporations are not ethical and simply act to seek maximal profit. Then I point out that corporations have a culture, which may have values other than just profit, and that corporations are made up of individuals who ALSO have motivations other than just profit. The company I work for also has resisted the urge to open accounts that customers didn't ask for (as recently revealed of Wells Fargo) and many other ethical deviations. I am sure we have our own sins, and should work to improve them. I agree that laws constraining corporate behavior are ONE good tool for managing corporate behavior, but it is not true that absent such laws there would be no other constraints.