The Rural Housing Service has said it will stop accepting new mortgage applications for one week in an effort to clear through its huge backlog.

A federal court has ordered two debt sellers that posted the sensitive personal information of more than 70,000 consumers online to notify the consumers and explain how they can protect themselves against identity theft and other fraud as a result of the disclosures.

The $5.8 billion-asset company said in a press release Wednesday that Shelley Seifert would fill the newly created role.

The company cited uncertainties with industrywide litigation and the regulatory environment in the move. In August, a New York regulator questioned its purchase of the unit from an affiliated company.

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered two debt sellers—St. Petersburg Florida's Bayview Solutions, LLC and Riverside, California's Cornerstone and Company, LLC — to notify customers about alleged disclosures of their personal information.

While banks have spent tens of billions of dollars to settle investigations related to the sale of faulty mortgages, probes into everything from foreign-exchange trading to subprime automobile lending are forcing many of them to continue adding to their legal reserves.

Carver Bancorp in New York has named a new chief lending officer and president of its community development unit.

A growing number of Americans frequent payday lenders, check cashers and other firms outside the financial mainstream, and with good reason: they cannot get reliable and affordable service from the country's biggest banks.

Bank of America, which paid more in legal settlements tied to the U.S. housing collapse than any other company, will avoid easing mortgage standards even as regulators seek to expand lending, Chief Executive Officer Brian T. Moynihan said.

A legal association's ethics committee on Wednesday issued an opinion finding that a growing practice by local prosecutors of allowing debt collection agencies to send demand letters - that suggest they came from the prosecutor - violates rules of professional conduct.

HomeTrust Bancshares in Asheville, N.C., has hired a team of commercial lenders to open its first office in Raleigh, N.C.

ConnectOne Bancorp in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., expects to record a charge in the fourth quarter tied to an online fraud scheme.

Hospitals are expected to save $5.7 billion in bad debt and charity care costs this year because of the Act.

Retired BB&T CEO John A. Allison shares tips on brokering a deal and making an acquisition thrive in his latest book. This is part 2 of 5.

BB&T has agreed to buy Susquehanna Bancshares for about $2.5 billion in cash and shares to expand in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Regulators in the U.S., Britain and Switzerland ordered five banks to pay about $3.3 billion in the first wave of penalties since authorities began a global probe into the rigging of key foreign-exchange benchmarks last year.

The new owners of First Mariner Bank believe the Baltimore bank could return to profitability in the first quarter.

Approval rates for small-business loans dropped at big banks for the first time in seven months, as nonbanks continue to grant loans at a much more generous pace.

A group of ultrawealthy Citigroup clients clamoring for big returns on U.S. real estate have entered into funding commitments for a new commercial and multifamily development on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif. It is one of several co-investment projects the firm is offering through its private bank.

While the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s reporting of growing use of prepaid products among the underserved stokes concerns about high costs, some note they can be a bridge to more traditional accounts.