Freddie Mac is one-upping Fannie Mae by offering to retain some home loans that have defects but without requiring that mortgage lenders pay a fee.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce is warning consumers about a debt collection scam where criminals are falsely using the name of a St. Paul, Minn.-based law firm to target victims.

Collection law firm Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson has prepared a report on its collection of tax delinquencies for a county in Texas.

Ken Karels has guided the South Dakota company through an initial public offering and its first acquisition in three years. He is worth watching next year as ag lending comes under pressure and as Great Western continues hunting for acquisitions.

F&M Bank in Clarksville, Tenn., has named Tennessee banking veteran Brad Barrett to its board of directors.

The more aggressive nonbank lenders are attracting top producers by essentially allowing loan officers to set their own rate of pay. While so-called "pick-a-pay" compensation plans are not illegal, critics say they can encourage loan officers to steer consumers into more expensive loans in order to increase their own pay.

BofI Holding's CEO Greg Garrabrants should be basking in the glow of his bank's record earnings growth and its potentially transformative acquisition of H&R Block Bank. Instead, he's fighting to regain the confidence of shareholders spooked by allegations that the online bank violated anti-money-laundering laws.

One of the more unusual financial crime stories of the year concerned two men who were charged with operating an illegal Bitcoin exchange through a now-shuttered New Jersey credit union.

Financial institutions considering whether to bank marijuana-related businesses often receive inaccurate information about the emerging industry. Here are five common myths.

A year ago we asked BankThink contributors to make bold predictions about how the financial industry would evolve in 2015. Here's a look back at their forecasts and the actual outcomes.

The $1 billion-asset holding company for Veritex Community Bank redeemed about $8 million worth of SBLF shares.

Middleburg Financial in Middleburg, Va., plans to record a $3 million impairment charge tied to a participation loan in which the borrower has been accused of fraud.

Citizens & Northern in Wellsboro, Pa., has paid off a $24 million repurchase agreement and will record a loss on the prepayment.

Birmingham Bloomfield Bancshares in Birmingham, Mich., has redeemed its shares in the Small Business Lending Fund and exited the program.

Suffolk Bancorp in Riverhead, N.Y., has hired Fiserv as core processor and it plans to record a $1.4 million charge to cover the vendor switch.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are telling lenders that they are willing to retain loans with defects if they believe the defects are minor and can be fixed. But Freddie is one-upping Fannie by offering to retain such loans without charging lenders a fee.

BankMobile attracted 100,000 users in its first year and with the acquisition of a couple of business lines from collegiate servicer Higher One it is projecting it will have 2 million by July.

American Banker predicted these five community bankers would make news in 2015, and they did not disappoint. Some pursued M&A, one went public, and one even helped break up his bank.

We revisit some of the best comments readers posted in 2015. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com and BankThink.com articles, except where noted.

WASHINGTON — The Bancorp Bank in Wilmington, Del., has agreed to pay $4.3 million on charges brought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that the prepaid card issuer deceived consumers.