The nonexistent spring home-selling season has put yet another crimp in the long-expected rebound of private mortgage insurers.

Loan modifications were flat in May compared with the previous month, while foreclosure sales dipped, according to the latest numbers from Hope Now, an industry alliance of mortgage servicers, investors and counselors.

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VSB Bancorp Inc. said Wednesday that second-quarter earnings fell 7.5% largely because of lower yields on securities and loans during the period.

The Bank of South Carolina Corp. is on pace to beat its profit target for the full year thanks to strong second-quarter results, its president said Wednesday.

Jeff Taylor, one of the mortgage industry's biggest advocates for the reverse mortgage product, believes there is still a future for the home equity conversion mortgage in the wake of Wells Fargo discontinuing its production operations, but the Federal Housing Administration needs to alter its rules.

What would members think . . .

ROCHESTER, Minn. – More than four years after the plans were announced, Mayo Employees CU is preparing to build a new, 6,000-square-foot branch in southeast Rochester.

As potential buyers kick the tires of a few big credit card portfolios on the block, the issuers' private-label card operations for the first time in years could be an advantage, instead of a drag, thanks to changes in the economy and in industry regulations.

The $14 billion-asset Wintrust struck a deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday for the assets and deposits of First Chicago Bank and Trust, its third FDIC transaction this year.

The majority of Americans still place value in owning a home, despite a recession and recent housing crisis.

PayPal is pushing harder in mobile payments by promising near-field communication support for Android handsets.

The march of mobile banking has moved more slowly in the U.K. than in other countries, but NatWest and RBS have moved more quickly than others.

The slowdown in bank failures has conspiracy theorists looking for a cause, but the truth is likely a lot less exciting: The slowdown may simply reflect a stabilized industry.

The move was a case study in how remote events like the Greek-induced European crisis and realities like the sputtering recovery back home can combine to affect daily business decisions at large financial services companies.

Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it has hired 75 small-business bankers in Texas and that it intends to add roughly 25 more in the state by the end of the first quarter.

Todd Chamberlain, a 25-year veteran of the mortgage industry and the head of residential lending at Regions Financial, left the company last week to take a job with a competitor.

Freddie Mac is seeking to put the brakes on a recently proposed $1.6 billion settlement involving the bankruptcy estate of Taylor Bean & Whitaker and Bank of America.

"Gain on sale" margins have fallen along with volume, helping turn mortgage production into another weak point for the banking industry.

Why buy a whole bank when you can snap up its choicest assets? That appears to be the thinking of a growing number of acquirers these days as they troll for select assets and deposits rather than entire banks.