Sara Lepro

Nearly 30 years after the department store chain set out to become "the largest financial services entity," as its then-chairman put it, Sears is once again challenging banks.

Man locks self in house, demanding a county foreclosure freeze; parents use grown children's higher credit scores to lease cars; and more.

Grameen America Inc. has received $1 million in funding from Wells Fargo & Co. to help the microfinance company open additional locations.

On the heels of the first jumbo mortgage securitization since the crisis, Citigroup Inc. is cranking up originations of such loans to meet resurgent demand from borrowers and investors.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is quitting the refund-anticipation loan business as the controversial product faces increased regulatory scrutiny.

The New York banking company began notifying the roughly 13,000 independent tax preparers it works with of its decision this week, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Cool. Hip. Fresh. These words are rarely used to describe traditional retail banking. But that's how some experts have referred to Mango Financial Inc., a start-up targeting underbanked consumers. The company is raising eyebrows with its sleek, colorful flagship store in Austin, a plan to build similar outlets around the country, and a paid-membership model designed to encourage customers to use Mango over the long term.

The activist shareholder Evelyn Y. Davis made her presence felt at American Express Co.'s annual meeting Monday, complaining about not receiving paper statements, among other things.

As the private-label mortgage bond market comes back to life, real estate investment trusts may play the lucrative central role that belonged to banks and Wall Street firms during securitization's precrisis heyday.

I admit it. When Susan Allen, vice president of strategic relations at FirstAmerican CoreLogic, asked a room full of about 85 mortgage professionals (and a couple of journalists) to divide into small teams to simulate a property valuation, I considered bolting for the door.

American Express Co. churned out a first-quarter profit that was more than double what it earned a year earlier, as spending on its cards rebounded sharply and loan losses diminished.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has taken an out-of-the-ordinary approach to encourage customers to use their signature rather than their PIN when making debit card purchases.

The latest trust data from the major issuers, released Thursday, did show some improvement. However, a slight increase in the rate of loans 30 to 59 days past due at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Discover Financial Services and Bank of America Corp. was concerning to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst John Stilmar.

The mortgage crisis was enabled, if not exacerbated, by the fact that there were never concrete definitions for terms like “subprime” or “alt-A,” and thus little clarity among investors about what they were actually purchasing.

Steps that correspondent loan buyers have taken to avoid flipping schemes could be hurting the recovery in home prices; and more.

If the mortgage industry takes one lesson from the housing crisis to heart, it should be the danger in having loose definitions and broad classifications of loans.

Recognizing that a prospective borrower's payment history is just the beginning, the three major credit bureaus are widening the types of personal data they can provide banks, in an effort to strengthen financial firms' ability to properly assess loan candidates.

Recognizing that a prospective borrower's payment history is just the beginning, the three major credit bureaus are widening the types of personal data they can provide banks, in an effort to strengthen financial firms' ability to properly assess loan candidates.

Matchmaking service created for troubled borrowers and journalists; GMAC ties loan officer compensation to loan performance; and more.

In another sign that consumers' financial health is recovering, the American Bankers Association reported the second consecutive quarterly decline in delinquencies. However, analysts warned the improvement could level off in coming quarters.