U.S. college and university alumni-affiliated credit cards are losing steam because consumer interest in affinity-based college card programs is fading, new Federal Reserve Board data suggest.

F.N.B. Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., reported that its second quarter earnings rose nearly 25% from a year earlier, to $22.4 million, up nearly 25%, due largely to lower credit costs.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System, or MERS, the middleman in millions of foreclosure filings.

Rumors that ISIS's card network partnerships put Google out of the mobile payments race are grossly exaggerated, Google representatives say.

Commerce Bancshares Inc. and Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc. are in rare company as small banks with top shares in major cities.

Experian is selling a service to automobile lenders to reduce charge-off rates by flagging used vehicles with title problems.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency definitely got the better end of its merger with the Office of Thrift Supervision. But among the downsides: The OCC is now on the legal hook for closing a thrift it never regulated.

Consumers who request credit through their cable providers to pay for service are a higher risk than the general population, according to a study.

Chemical Financial Corp. in Midland, Mich., reported Monday that its second quarter earnings rose 150% from a year earlier, to $11 million, as credit costs fell and net interest income increased.

These five banks are making deals work in the down economy, but they are tough acts to follow.

Metro Bancorp Inc. in Harrisburg, Pa., reported Monday that second quarter earnings jumped 453% from a year earlier, to $2 million, due to a sizable drop in its loan-loss provision.

Bank of Hawaii Corp. in Honolulu reported that its earnings fell nearly 25% from a year earlier, to $35.1 million, as it paid out $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving overdraft fees on debit cards.

S&T Bancorp Inc. in Indiana, Pa., reported that its second-quarter earnings rose 58.5% from a year earlier, to $14.9 million, due largely to improved asset quality and the resolution of several nonperforming loans.

A federal court has ordered Swish Marketing Inc. to pay more than $4.8 million for tricking hundreds of thousands of payday loan applicants into paying for an unrelated debit card.

Wholesaling veteran Al Cristany has accepted a position with 360 Mortgage Group, Austin, Texas, one of the few lenders that funds exclusively in the broker channel.

Total Mortgage Services, a nonbank mortgage lender based in Milford, Conn., on Monday said it plans to hire 50 new loan officers as it expands its retail presence in the U.S.

Most borrowers do not end up in worse neighborhoods, nor do they endure more crowded living conditions after foreclosure, the central bank's economists find.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.'s directors plan to discuss at a meeting Tuesday the possibility of trying to acquire rival online-brokerage firm E*Trade Financial Corp., according to people familiar with the situation.

As we say in New York, the new agency is going to be a first-class “noodge” – pushing and cajoling the industry to simplify, clarify and and modify some of its practices.

IMGCAP(1)]