Harry Terris

Credit performance at the nation's biggest card lenders continued a jagged orbit in September, as some measures improved from August but others weakened — and losses overall stayed at record altitudes.

Banks ready to pick up slack as Fed retreats from MBS market; FHA commissioner David Stevens gives history lesson; new Freddie chief weeds out "green shoot" hopes.

The foreclosure crisis has turned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into big property owners, but neither has become a significant landlord.

Meltdown casualities in a scrap over credit-default swaps; some optimism on the housing front; commercial real estate on the lip of a spectacular meltdown?

The surprise departure of American Express Co.'s highly regarded president could be a knock-on effect of succession planning elsewhere.

For Dorothy Savarese, the financial crisis has in some ways amounted to a restoration of the principals that guide her institution, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank.

FHA changes may inadvertently make it harder for military veterans to refi; multifamily moves by Freddie and BB&T; and more.

Securitization has remained a vital funding source to the credit card industry during the thaw brought on by the government's emergency Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. But the future of this market is in flux.

Like chameleons, American Express and Discover changed their skins to survive the financial crisis. They may actually be getting used to the camouflage.

The figures, released Tuesday, followed a month-over-month decline in the rate at which lenders wrote off debt as uncollectible in July, and underscore continuing distress in the industry from record levels of bad loans.

American Express Co., continuing to shift its funding strategy, has launched a line of branchless consumer deposit offerings.

For years, issuers strove to make their credit cards "top of wallet" — the first one a consumer pulled out when making a purchase. Today, these lenders are jockeying for a different prize: whatever's left in the wallet.

HSBC promotes financial literacy on public television; $450 million is raised to buy banks — for their bad loans; and more.

Though recent improvements in delinquency rates for credit card debt have closely tracked declines in the pace of job losses, the industry faces a tough climb out of a cycle of devastating losses.

Using Fannie and Freddie as a blueprint for the future of the mortgage industry; Wells Fargo's companywide conference call; a weekly index of refi applications.

Google Inc. has set its sights on the mortgage-referral business, where its name recognition and technology pose a threat to the best-known name in the market, LendingTree LLC.

If credit card loan performance is indeed turning around, it appears to be doing so the fastest at American Express Co., giving the company an opportunity to ramp up business.

PMI "embeds" mod specialists at servicers to help distressed borrowers cut through bureaucracy; appraisal-management exec calls HVCC "redundant"; and more.

Last month, the volume of private-label securitized mortgages that were liquidated through foreclosure was nearly as high as the amount that defaulted for the first time, according to Amherst Securities Group LP. The pace of first-time defaults in this sector has been falling since January, Amherst's data showed. If the trend persists, liquidations could soon be outpacing new defaults.

IMGCAP(1)]