WASHINGTON -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lack consistent policies on charging late fees on outstanding loan repurchase requests, creating an uneven playing field in the mortgage market, according to an inspector general report released Wednesday.

The single-family mortgage delinquency rate has been declining for eight straight quarters and it ended 2013 at the lowest level since 2008.

Patriot Financial is among a handful of investors to team up and bid on 1st Mariner Bank in a bankruptcy auction. Kirk Wycoff, Patriot's managing director, says his firm likes the structure and thinks it provides a market-based solution to community banks' debt hangover.

Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) in Cincinnati mistakenly informed credit bureaus that a number of customers had filed for bankruptcy.

Divorcees are more satisfied with how their handling their finances than married people, according to a new survey.

The clock is ticking on the Canadian bank's ambitious plan to take New York. TD has added a lot of branches and won kudos for its emphasis on customer service, but it's far short of its goal to be No. 3 in retail market share by 2016.

Being persistent and relentlessly reasonable can succeed over expressions of outrage, however justified that may be.

PHH Corp. is considering selling its mortgage banking business, a move that is apparently being driven by some of the company's investors.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has filed a lawsuit against an executive at Renasant (RNST) in an effort to recoup money from a defaulted loan from the defunct Tennessee Commerce Bank.

Talmer Bancorp in Troy, Mich., expects to raise $42.5 million in its initial public offering.

Banks have shied away from private student loans, both because of the need for scale in this business and intense scrutiny from regulators including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But these loans are performing much better than federally guaranteed student loans, says Dan Feshbach, Chief Executive of data company MeasureOne.

Sallie Krawcheck, the former Bank of America and Citigroup executive, said women haven't climbed Wall Street's corporate ranks after the 2008 credit crunch because men tend to hire people like themselves when facing a crisis.

M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) in Buffalo has revised its fourth-quarter and yearly earnings downward due to costs related to a lawsuit against its Wilmington Trust unit.

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office has reached a settlement with Union Workers Credit Services Inc. (UWCS) and its president, Joe Malazzo, banning the company from offering credit or financial services or products in New York.

Daniel Lee has been accepting Bitcoin at his family's seven retail stores in Fort Greene, Brooklyn since March 2013 by having customers send the digital currency to wallet addresses he manages.

An ad campaign begun by the Federal Housing Finance Agency may come too late to boost refinancings by underwater borrowers with loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Leading origination outsourcer cites "input" from activist investor Orange Capital.

Regional bank executives keep trying to deflect calls for more cost cutting as they seek new revenue sources, and one of them -- BB&T's Kelly King -- seems to be losing his patience with such demands.

Big banks reportedly approved more small-business loans in January than they have in the last three years.