U.S. payday lenders are lashing out at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the wake of a report that concluded the industry traps consumers in a cycle of debt.

HopFed is fighting back against claims by Joseph Stilwell that its CEO is overpaid.

A Congressional Budget Office report commissioned by Democrats concludes that principal reductions in modifications of loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would achieve more success if eligibility of the Home Affordable Modification Program were widened.

Royal Bancshares of Pennsylvania (RBPAA) in Narbeth has ended a string of 18 straight quarterly losses.

The mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial (OCN) more than doubled its profit in the first quarter following a string of acquisitions that has substantially boosted its market share.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has accused 18 former officers and directors of the parent company of Midwest Bank with reckless practices that led to the Chicago-area bank's failure during the financial crisis.

MidSouth Bank of Tennessee recently deployed software to speed up the process for documenting and calculating the allowance for loan and lease losses.

A class-action lawsuit against the three major credit bureaus made headlines when a federal appeals court threw out a proposed settlement, but more noteworthy is that the suit itself led to major improvements in how they generate consumer credit reports.

American Banker Magazine Editor in Chief Heather Landy responds to the charges and examines the possible evidence of her own unconscious bias.

Small banks are pushing to be exempted from what they call an unneeded and overly burdensome data-collection effort to spot how consumers may be abused by checking account overdraft fees and other charges.

A pair of longtime foes, community banks and credit unions, oppose CFPB rules and — gasp — are even willing to team up in lobbying for exemptions.

OptifiNow, a maker of mortgage lending software, is rolling out a service to streamline paperwork and ease compliance.

Sterling Financial in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to buy Commerce National Bank in Newport Beach, Calif.

Ameris Bancorp in Moultrie, Ga., has agreed to buy Prosperity Banking Co. in St. Augustine, Fla.

Most annual meetings take place at corporate offices, hotels or country clubs. Here is a list of some of the most unusual venues for this year's slate of shareholder meetings.

D.A. Davidson has agreed to buy the Los Angeles broker-dealer and money-management firm Crowell, Weedon & Co.

President Obama has nominated Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Editors discuss why the move has little chance of winning Congressional approval and is emblematic of Washington's housing reform dilemma.

The investors would inject $50 million into the struggling lender, the bank said Monday. U.S. Century would also sell its nonperforming loans, which totaled $95 million at March 31, to "unrelated third parties" for an undisclosed price.

Visa (NYSE: V) rode rising sales volume — particularly among users of its credit cards — to strong quarterly profits.

The Kansas City company, which started with opening-day deposits of $1,100 in 1913, now has $15.7 billion in assets and a fresh formula that is allowing it to prosper with a conservative approach to credit.