The payment hierarchy is dynamic. Lenders using historical payment models to set strategy risk significant exposure on their existing loan portfolios as well as on acquisition opportunities when consumer preferences inevitably shift.

The future is bright for mortgage servicers, but his PE firm agreed to sell Homeward Residential to Ocwen because it had held the investment long enough — and owning stock in a bigger servicer will pay off, billionaire Wilbur Ross said.

Small-bank executives sound call for stronger firewalls between financial activities, but many say a straight return to the Depression-era law could have unintended consequences, including to their own business.

Farmers & Merchants Bank in Timberville, Va., is expanding its footprint in the Shenandoah region.

More community banks are paying vendors for online courses that teach workers about the raft of new regulations, how to be a manager and other topics. The new way is cheaper and faster, but has drawbacks.

Prosper Marketplace, the online peer-to-peer loan facilitator, announced Oct. 3 that it hired Josh Tonderys, a former executive at Barclaycard US, to be its chief risk officer.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said he would consider limiting the size of the home mortgage deduction to help pay for an overall reduction in tax rates.

Frost Bank in San Antonio and the Baker Group, a securities firm in Oklahoma City, have agreed to share their bank clients with each other.

The Fed and merchants faced tough questions in federal court on Tuesday in a case that could decide the fate of an estimated $3 billion in interchange fees.

Since April, the state of California's monitor for the multi-state mortgage settlement has received more than 200 complaints about servicers moving homes toward foreclosure while the homeowner pursues a loan modification, according to a new report.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated an enforcement action against West Concord Bancshares in Minnesota.

The privately held investment firm, based in Birmingham, Ala., is buying FBC Mortgage of Orlando, Fla., a unit of Florida Bank of Commerce, for undisclosed terms, the companies said Tuesday.

Angst over the scope enforcement was palpable at an Ellie Mae conference as mortgage lenders try to avoid the types of hefty fines the agency has already levied on credit card companies.

Wal-Mart is dipping one more toe into financial services by letting customers reload a range of prepaid cards at its registers — for a fee.

Nationstar has figured out how to profit from troubled loans that have bedeviled major banks. It also seems to be producing better outcomes for borrowers and the government.

Ocwen Financial in Atlanta has agreed to buy Homeward Residential Holdings from WL Ross & Co. for $750 million in cash and stock.

Serving the unbanked requires a worldview that most industry insiders don't have, but truly need in order to innovate responsibly on behalf these consumers. Here are insights some companies have gleaned from spending a day as the underserved.

Regulators are barring an Alabama bank holding company from paying shareholders or incurring debt until it takes steps to improve its practices.

It's been my experience that the closing of in-store branches generates more chatter than the fact that another bank often immediately opens and prospers in those exact spaces.

Three years to the day he joined the struggling company, Joseph Campanelli handed the reins to Michael Tierney. Flagstar reported its first profit since 2008 in the second quarter, but credit issues linger.