Opportunistic community banks in south Florida have seen a dramatic increase in new customers because of a contraction of banks caused by failures and mergers.

In the Washington Post last week, housing columnist Kenneth Harney took an interesting look at mortgage loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Two more community banks have exited the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program with loans they received from another government fund designed to encourage small-business lending.

Even though consumers increasingly trust nonbanks such as Google and Facebook with their personal information, they trust credit card providers more.

A small Silicon Valley bank that lends primarily to technology startups has opened a lending office in incubator space in Boston.

A roughly 7 basis point increase in 30-year mortgage rates and gains in bond yields from recent record lows could dampen refinancing applications a bit unless they motivate a significant group of fence-sitting borrowers to act.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is being inundated by member complaints about the Federal Housing Administration's policy decision to extend the forbearance period for unemployed homeowners to 12 months.

Merchants frustrated with the complexities of their monthly credit card transaction statements ought to consider having an analyst review them to avoid overcharges, a payments processor executive says.

Freddie Mac purchased $21.7 billion of mortgages from its seller/servicers in July, its worst acquisition month of the year and only about half of what it bought in January.

Warren Buffett's $5 billion public vote of confidence in Bank of America, happily for him, does not require actual confidence.

Sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or repossessed accounted for 31% of home sales in the second quarter, a slight decline from the first quarter, according to figures released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc.

PSM Holdings Inc. of Roswell, N.M., has agreed to buy Iowa Mortgage Professionals Inc., a lender and brokerage based in Des Moines.

Twenty years ago I engineered the sale of Security Pacific Bank, at the time the nation's fifth largest bank, to Bank of America. On August 12, 1991, the day the deal was announced BofA's stock closed at $10.00. Today it closed at $7.65 a decline of 23% over the past two decades.

Community banks don't typically lead the high-concept branch pack, but this Maine bank is experimenting with new cash recycling equipment and self-service kiosks.

First Busey Corp. in Champaign, Ill., has received $72.6 million from the Small Business Lending Fund, the largest award to date since the Treasury Department began disbursing funds to community banks last month.

Citigroup Inc. may just be the world's most bootylicious bank after offering its credit card customers exclusive Beyonce music content and concert tickets.

Clark Street Capital has spent the last few years helping struggling banks shed problem assets. Now it wants to help banks comply with enforcement actions.

Any broad new plan to refinance mortgages would hold considerable appeal to the Obama administration, and might raise fewer objections than earlier plans did.

The New York Stock Exchange has warned Flagstar Bancorp Inc. that its stock is in danger of being delisted because it has traded at an average of less than $1 for 30 consecutive days.

Steve Jobs' resignation raises further uncertainty over Apple's payment plan intentions, but Apple patents themselves provide some clues as to where the company may be going.