EL SERENO, Calif.-The match was perfect, according to the owner of a coffee shop that had lost its lease-a credit union looking for a branch location and a charter school seeking an alternative revenue stream.

The financial services industry has witnessed mergers and acquisitions of the country’s largest banks, the collapse of some of the most trusted financial icons, the mortgage meltdown and government bailouts - namely TARP. All of this has taken place in the past 18 month.

The government seized banks in three states late Friday, bringing the failure total in the new year to four.

Capitol Bancorp Ltd. continued its selling spree, on Friday announcing its 10th deal since May.

Pacific Capital Bancorp Inc. has completed the sale of its tax division to a private-equity firm but said it is "highly unlikely" that the deal would let its tax-preparation partners offer more tax loans this year.

Quick Collect Inc., a collection agency in Portland, Ore., did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) while trying to collect from a consumer, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled this week. The decision upheld an opinion issued by a U.S. District Court judge in Washington.

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 collection lawsuits filed in Maryland will be dismissed as a result of the collapse of legal collection giant Mann Bracken LLP, Maryland District Court Chief Judge Ben Clyburn's office confirmed today. Clyburn made the decision to dismiss the lawsuits after learning the firm had notified district court clerks across the state that it will shut down by the end of this month.

The Federal Reserve has ordered Old Southern Bank in Orlando to find a buyer or increase its equity in the next month.

BOULDER, Colo. – Elevations CU, which has a branch in the University of Colorado’s Memorial Center, equipped its ATM with a voice guidance system that provides instructions to the user through a built-in audio port.

California regulators have approved three more mergers of failed state-chartered credit unions.

Bank consultants say the double denial could signal that the significantly undercapitalized Amcore is running out of options and that without dramatic action to restore its languishing capital the bank's days could be numbered.

Here’s a sobering economic indicator: freshly charged off consumer debts are now selling for what tertiary debts — those previously placed with two collection agencies — commanded just a few years ago.

First Midwest Bancorp Inc. in Itasca, Ill., on Thursday announced the pricing of its public offering, of 16.4 million shares of common stock.

The average credit score for U.S. consumers dropped six points to 671 at the end of December from 677 at the beginning of the year, according to a report released this week by Credit Karma Inc., a San Francisco-based company whose Web site tracks credit scores. Credit Karma based its data on some 87,000 Credit Karma users. Average credit scores have remained stable since October, the firm notes.

Nearly three million homeowners received at least one foreclosure filing in 2009, setting a record for the number of people falling behind on their mortgage payments, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, and its Foreclosure Market Report.

The Federal Reserve has ordered the Orlando, Fla.-based Old Southern Bank to either find a buyer or increase its equity within the next month.

Old National Bancorp of Evansville, Ind., said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter results would take a hit from a $12 million loss on a "non-real-estate loan participation."

The $4 billion-asset company in Rockford, Ill., announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Wednesday that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the company's Dec. 4 capital plan for its Amcore Bank unit, saying it was not based on realistic assumptions.

Several companies in the collectio and debt-buying industries made large contributions to charities in 2009 and, specifically, during the holidays. The following is the start of a roll call listing those companies and their efforts. This list, with the detailed information following, will grow as more information is sent to Collections & Credit Risk. Contact Darren Waggoner at darren.waggoner@sourcemedia.com.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. late Wednesday announced it will sell Independent Bankers' Bank Bridge Bank to The Independent BankersBank of Irving, Texas.