U.S. consumers average credit scores dropped three points to 667 since May 2010, while credit card debt plunged by 15% to $6,740 in the same period, according to data Credit Karma released Thursday.

The board of directors at Community Partners Bancorp in Middletown, N.J., has elected Frank Patock as chairman of both the company and its bank subsidiary, Two River Community Bank.

Washington Federal Inc. in Seattle is raising its profile in New Mexico with a deal to acquire six branches and $253 million of deposits from Charter Bank in Albuquerque.

City National Corp. of Los Angeles is expanding to Nashville, Tenn., to expand its entertainment division.

In the wake of the compromise of RSA Security's one-time-password tokens, it's the smaller banks that may feel the greatest impact, since they have more invested in a single security technology than their larger peers.

Painful consolidation is coming to community banks, and the biggest determinant of which companies will survive is the quality of senior management, particularly the chief executive.

Consumer credit jumped by a seasonally adjusted 3.1% annual rate in April, the seventh consecutive monthly gain, according to the Federal Reserve's monthly G.19 report released Tuesday.

The Fed on Tuesday announced a written agreement with the Fargo, N.D. company. Cornerstone agreed to serve as a source of strength to its $265.4M subsidiary, which has been operating under a consent order with the FDIC since Aug. 23.

Kay M. Hoveland has notified the board of the $900 million-asset Kaiser that she plans to retire as the CEO of the thrift and president and CEO of its holding company, Kaiser Federal Financial Group Inc. Hoveland also plans to resign from the bank's board.

Midwest Corporate Federal Credit Union in Bismarck, N.D., has become the first corporate credit union to voluntarily liquidate in the face of daunting new capital and other regulatory requirements from the National Credit Union Administration.

The $1.46 billion-asset company said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that L. Anderson Creel will resign at the end of the year.

Signaling its intention to continue growing in Florida, Stearns Bank in St. Cloud, Minn., has named veteran banker Tramm Hudson as the president of its Florida operation.

With many competitors eschewing the interest-rate-sensitive housing market, First PacTrust took the opposite tack, agreeing to pay $17 million for Gateway Bancorp.

Many community banks have drifted in recent decades from core small-business and consumer lending toward financing commercial real estate.

The only CEO in the history of Kaiser Federal Bank in Covina, Calif., is stepping down at the end of this month.

Signaling its intention to continue growing in Florida, Stearns Bank in St. Cloud, Minn., has named veteran banker Tramm Hudson as president of its Florida operation.

Striking its second deal in three months, Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., said it is buying the $682 million-asset RMG Capital of Fullerton, Calif., for $50 million in cash.

COLONIE, N.Y. – CAP COM FCU said yesterday it has acquired a branch in Glen Falls, N.Y., from Baxter CU of Illinois.

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The former chief executive of Community Link Federal Credit Union in Huntington, Ind., claims he was fired as head of the $20 million-asset credit union because he shared information with examiners for the National Credit Union Administration on potential conflicts of interest on the board and other regulatory violations.