The Durham-based Center for Responsible Lending has won a $2 million award from the MacArthur Foundation.

The nonprofit was one of 15 organizations to receive one of the foundation's annual awards for creative and effective institutions.

The awards are different than the so-called "genius grants" the foundation gives to individuals each year.

The Center for Responsible Lending is a consumer advocacy group that works to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and to prevent lenders from using predatory financial practices.

The center is a division of the Community Center for Self-Help, a nonprofit group founded in 1980 by Martin Eakes.

It seems consumers are both wary of and confused by overdraft protection programs.

Last year, the Federal Reserve required banks and credit unions to obtain a customer's permission before enrolling them in an overdraft protection program, which charges an average fee of $35 for overdrawing a bank account.

A new survey of consumers from the Center for Responsible Lending released today showed that only 33 percent of consumers were opting in now that they have an option. The research also showed that people who did opt in often did so for reasons that were not legitimate, including:

• 60 percent said they wanted to avoid a fee if their debit card was declined, when in fact a declined transaction costs the consumer nothing.
• 64 percent said they wanted to avoid bouncing a paper check, but overdraft protection programs cover only debit card and ATM transactions.
• And almost half said they simply wanted to stop the bank's repeated requests that they opt in.

The full report is available online here.

A new media campaign that aims to help North Carolina homeowners who face possible foreclosure is set to launch later this month.

The "Fight NC Foreclosure" campaign will include a series of public service announcements that will air on WRAZ/Fox 50  through December, according
to the State Employees' Credit Union. The credit union has teamed up with the N.C. Commissioner of Banks, the Center for Responsible Lending and Capital Broadcasting on the campaign.

The public service spots will tell homeowners facing foreclosure
where they can go to for help, according to the credit union. It also will shine a spotlight on the State Home Foreclosure Prevention Project, a state program that has helped more than 1,000 homeowners in North Carolina avoid foreclosure since it began in November.