Laura Alix

Lawmakers are working to head off a wave of pandemic-related personal credit downgrades. But there are bigger problems with how credit risk is assessed that are harder to solve.

The lender will pay $65 million in restitution and forgive nearly $500 million in auto debt to settle charges that it steered subprime borrowers into risky loans.

Often overlooked in narratives about essential workers, branch and call-center employees are responding to challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis. They’ve processed emergency-relief loans late into the night, coached customers unfamiliar with mobile banking and made house calls to elderly account holders.

Regional and midsize banks, which continue to trail the biggest banks in digital engagement, could attract younger consumers by reaching out with more advice about financial basics, according to J.D. Power.

Funneling fees from emergency loans to feed the hungry. Supporting psychological counseling for health care heroes and financial advice for the poor. Backing retrofits of customer operations to produce protective gear for front-line medical personnel. Bankers and financial educators have tossed out the traditional playbook to help clients and communities in crisis.

The lenders are bracing for spikes in delinquencies or defaults on loans to a sector heavily punished by social distancing measures.

Queued-up loans. Extra bankers. Government tweaks to promote fairness. None of these precautionary measures has been enough for the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program to avoid the pitfalls of the first.

The pandemic won’t halt the Cincinnati bank's plan to open about 100 branches in the Southeast, but features could be added to accommodate social distancing.

Citizens, Regions and others say business investments initiated before the COVID-19 pandemic, including technology improvements and new consumer offerings, are on track.

The biggest lenders seem to have handled the corporate rush for cash heading into the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But their ability to collect is as uncertain as the economic outlook for the next year.