The delinquency rate on first-lien mortgage loans on 1-4 unit residential properties fell at a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.77% in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. It marked the lowest level since Q3 2009.

Bankers in the Bakken Shale region of Montana and North Dakota are keeping an eye on exposure to hotels, apartments and retail space as economic slowdowns occur in energy-producing markets. Bankers in the Marcellus Shale region are also on alert, though there might be less exposure since that region had not yet had a development boom.

There are good, bad and ugly stories about how marijuana entrepreneurs deal with taxes and other financial management issues while having little access to banking services.

After imposing a virtual moratorium on adding new issuers, Ginnie Mae is again accepting applications from mortgage companies seeking to pool loans for securitization and servicing.

The Lenawee County (Mich.) Prosecutor’s Office began collecting delinquent bills at the start of the year from people who have spent time in the county’s jail. The county faced delinquent bills over the years that totaled more than $20 million.

Citigroup said it agreed to buy American Express' stockpile of U.S. credit card loans made to shoppers of Costco Wholesale, as the fourth-largest U.S. bank takes over a card partnership with the retailer. Terms were not disclosed.

Many of the presidential candidates have backed steps to lighten community banks' burden, but we don't need to count on grandiose stump speeches and campaign pledges to make a difference.

Poage Bankshares in Ashland, Ky., has promoted Thomas Burnette to chairman of the boards of the company and its Town Square Bank subsidiary.

The banking industry's rate of expansion hit a seasonal wall in January, leading to the weakest reading for the Index of Banking Activity since its inception in 2012. While January has consistently yielded some of the softest readings in the IBA, a relatively mild winter in the Northeast (a stark contrast to the previous two winters) puts the loss of momentum in a different light from those in recent years. Index components that track loan applications and loan approvals retreated below 50 in January on both the consumer and commercial sides of the business, marking the first time that those indicators simultaneously signaled a contraction in business activity. Most of the components that monitor trends in credit quality have remained positive, although respondents did indicate that delinquency trends in consumer lending had turned somewhat negative in January. Survey respondents also continued to report generally favorable trends in the pricing environment for new loans. Trends in other areas of business tracked by the IBA remained largely intact: The components that monitor the generation of new transaction accounts, the overall level of commercial and consumer loans outstanding, and local business and real estate conditions in the markets where respondents do business all remained above 50, pointing to ongoing improvements in each of those banking-activity metrics.

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Buying and selling branches is routine for a lot of banks, but it's big news at First National Bank of Dwight in Illinois.

The Houston-based institution plans to build profit into the repayment agreement for a loan, with profit replacing interest, under the model of other Muslim-based lenders.

The nation's largest marketplace lender announced changes Friday to its partnership with Utah-based WebBank. The revisions are designed to preserve Lending Club's ability to ignore state interest rate caps.

Pacific Mercantile Bank in Costa Mesa, Calif., announced four executive promotions Friday.

Texas has had a fair share of M&A since the financial crisis, but deal volume has declined since oil prices began to plummet in late 2014. Uncertainty over sellers' exposure and depressed stock prices for aspiring buyers are largely to blame.

The Federal Trade Commission, as a result of a federal court ruling, may attempt to collect up to $3.2 million from marketers who lied about their finances to the FTC when they agreed to settle deceptive advertising charges in 2014.

Capital One Financial in McLean, Va., has added Amazon's former chief information security officer to its board of directors.

The bank's approval last year to buy OneWest Bank included a condition to submit an updated Community Reinvestment Act plan, but the CRA program now being presented by CIT is far from adequate.

PRA Group's fourth-quarter financial results reported Thursday showed drops in both revenue and income and mixed news for cash collections.

The former chief executive of a Georgia community bank that participated in the Troubled Asset Relief Program was sentenced to prison and fined $3.9 million for hiding the bank's past-due loans and committing other fraud.

Regulators’ focus on having banks and credit unions offer payday loan alternatives to underserved consumers overlooks the success of Web-based companies in filling credit gaps.