Lending officers should tempt consumers with the popular pantry item to test their self-control. Those who can't resist are less likely to pay back their loans.

Private Bank of Buckhead in Atlanta is looking to open its second branch in suburban Decatur.

To a consumer, reloadable prepaid cards may look and act like debit cards, but to a banker they come loaded with a distinctly different set of risks.

Has the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with over 500 employees and growing like cancer, actually protected any consumers yet? Well, next best thing. It garners headlines nearly daily in lobbying to gain full powers by getting Cordray confirmed. Dodd-Frank says the CFPB must have a confirmed director to fire from all barrels.

Banks are between a rock and a hard place these days in figuring out how to recoup the cost of doing business without sparking a public outcry.

A leading indicator of future home sales jumped 7.3% in the November to its highest level in more than 19 months, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Average weekly fixed rates for mortgages inched up a bit but are still ending the year near their all-time historic lows, according to Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency on Thursday said it has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to implement a congressionally mandated increase in their loan guarantee fees on April 1. The initial rise will be 10 basis points, but additional increases may be coming, said the FHFA's acting director, Edward DeMarco.

A startup aims to make alternative payment options as streamlined as using bank-issued cards online by removing the need to authenticate the user at a separate website.

World of Warcraft players are willing to buy security tokens at $6.50 a pop. Why aren't bank customers?

NexBank Capital Inc. in Dallas has raised roughly $20 million in fresh capital this year after recently completing a stock sale to group of investors.

The much-maligned practice forces long-delinquent borrowers who are "in limbo" to decide whether they really want to save their homes, says a specialist in the trenches.

Participants in a recent American Banker roundtable debated whether banks should keep adding deposits to build customer relationships down the road.

Security Federal Corp. in Aiken, S.C.. has reorganized as a bank holding company and its subsidiary, Security Federal Bank, has converted from a federally chartered thrift to a state-regulated commercial bank.

LendingTree's findings have not reassured mortgage industry members worried about regulatory efforts to raise the minimum amount home buyers must put down upfront.

A group of commercial-mortgage backed securities investors is suing a junior lender and other parties, alleging a "brazen scheme," to steal more than $60 million from bondholders, according to a New York court filing.

The market for corporate borrowing through U.S. commercial paper dropped to the lowest level in two months as investors reduced holdings of banks' short-term IOUs on concern that Europe's fiscal crisis is spreading.

Hawaii is by far the priciest state for houses in the U.S., while Mississippi is the least expensive state in which to buy a home.

CEO James Smith invokes image of George Bailey in telling ABC World News With Diane Sawyer that Webster's mortgage modification program has paid off.

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., has moved a step closer toward exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program.