Payday lending

The former operators of an online payday lending scheme in the Kansas City area will be banned from the consumer finance business under a proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

JPMorgan Chase will overhaul customer screening procedures to let more low-income consumers open checking and savings accounts under an agreement announced Tuesday with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The case against Adrian Rubin offers a tour through lenders' efforts, dating back to the late 1990s, to avoid state-by-state interest-rate caps.

A GOP-led measure would have forced the Defense Department to do more study before finalizing regulations on high-cost loans to service members. It was quashed when five Republicans voted with Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee.

Financial industry groups are supporting the effort to stop the Pentagon from issuing new regulations on high-cost lending this year, while congressional Democrats and consumer groups are decrying it.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the owner of several tax-preparation outlets that allegedly steered low-income clients into expensive loans against their anticipated refunds.

The CFPB's proposed reforms for payday and other high-cost loans are both welcome and long overdue. But there are two ways the agency can further improve future requirements.

President Obama lauded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Thursday for cracking down on high interest rate, short-term loans while defending the agency against attempts to defang it.

Under tough questioning on Capitol Hill, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Martin Gruenberg said the agency accepts blame for fallout over its "high risk" businesses list as an internal FDIC watchdog is still investigating.

Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina has named Warren "Rocky" Herring its chief credit officer. Herring had held the same job at Premier Commercial Bank in Greensboro, N.C., before NewBridge Bancorp bought it last month.

California assemblyman Matt Dababneh, D-Encino, has proposed AB 1326, a bill that provides guidelines for any individual or business that wants to start using virtual currency.

In unusually expansive comments, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray provided new details Tuesday about proposals due soon from the agency while offering insights into an internal battle over easing a key mortgage rule.

The Massachusetts senator wants to induce more competition and diversity in the banking industry and improve the economic prospects of a majority of Americans. Both changes would benefit the financial services sector as a whole.

New York Community Bancorp wants Washington to raise the asset size for systemically important financial institutions, but in the meanwhile its asset sales to stay under the threshold helped to boost profits and its CEO is pursuing possible M&A deals.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a letter Wednesday emphasizing that financial institutions should take a measured approach to banking relationships rather than cutting ties with entire lines of businesses.

SimpleFi is working with a New Jersey bank to pitch its payday loan alternative and financial educational services to employers across the country come February 1. It represents part of the trend of disruptors rethinking payroll data.

U.S. banks are cutting off payday lenders' access to a database of account information used to evaluate potential borrowers as regulators seek to rein in abusive practices.

The Federal Trade Commission announced its largest-ever payday lending settlement on Friday, as two companies agreed to pay $21 million and waive another $285 million in charges that were never collected from customers.

Even is building a mobile money-management service for baristas, Lyft drivers, freelancers and others with unpredictable incomes. For $5 a week, users can draw advances on paychecks during rough patches.

After nearly two years, the Justice Department so far has accused just one bank of facilitating consumer fraud. And the aftermath of that case suggests that prosecutors' strategy is not as effective as they hoped it would be.