A California company called NEFT wants to provide the online meeting place where debt-laden borrowers get together with lenders and credit bureaus to negotiate repayment plans. Backed by some prominent investors, NEFT says it offers carrots to get all the parties to participate.

Borrowers are faced with two terrible choices: take out another exploitative loan because of the shortfall created by the first, or face a range of catastrophic consequences associated with defaulting.

The head of a sham debt relief operation agreed to a judgment of more than $7.9 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that he deceived consumers and charged them thousands of dollars while providing nothing in return.

If we can't identify adequate capital to bear mortgage credit losses when they are incurred, aren't we setting ourselves up for another series of bailouts in the next housing downturn?

Kabbage is one of many nonbank lenders looking to partner with traditional financial institutions. But the firm is facing a tough sell with bankers who worry about the risks associated with ceding control of the loan-underwriting process.

Lebenthal Holdings, the family-owned wealth management firm run by Alexandra Lebenthal, has hired former Ally Bank chief Barbara Yastine to be co-chief executive.

When Experian acknowledged Thursday that hackers had broken into one of its servers, it was bad news for everyone. Not just the 15 million T-Mobile customers whose personal information was compromised.

Banc of California in Irvine has agreed to buy a Santa Ana office building for $77 million for its headquarters.

The aftershocks of a white police officer's shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown are still being felt across the nation, and three credit unions are committed to helping rebuild this community.

C1 Financial in St. Petersburg, Fla., is reportedly looking to sell itself.

A bank failure in Georgia and then another in Washington state late Friday were estimated to cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. nearly $25 million.

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Consumer advocacy groups are urging regulators to take a closer look at how alternative lenders are using the stockpiles of personal information they collect.

Trinity Capital in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and its subsidiary Los Alamos National Bank will pay a $1.5 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission following charges of accounting fraud.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has lifted a cease-and-desist order for Carver Bancorp that was issued in February 2011.

Foreign banks looking to buy a U.S. institution long faced tough scrutiny from the Federal Reserve, and the financial crisis has only made the process harder.

Collection agency Pioneer Credit Recovery on Thursday began a one-year contract to pursue nearly $3 million in unpaid Trenton (N.J.) Municipal Court fines from people who lost their traffic, drug or other court cases.

"Pricing will have to be changed," American Banker declared in 1977, "to help motivate banks to start such programs with their own customers."

American Banker readers share their views on the most pressing banking topics of the week. Comments are excerpted from reader response sections of AmericanBanker.com articles and our social media platforms.

A server containing sensitive consumer information at Experian has been breached, with the records of as many as 15 million T-Mobile customers stolen, the companies said Thursday.