Payday lending

After several years of tussling with mortgage rules and their implementation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is focusing on several areas that will primarily affect the nonbank market, including debt collection, payday-type loans and prepaid cards.

Banks have made changes to overdrafts, such as lowering fees offering clearer explanations. They better, as the CFPB will soon offer new rules for overdrafts. Plus, overdraft revenue has declined at many banks. Still unanswered is the question of how to offer short-term credit, if overdrafts disappear.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday loan proposal threatens many money services businesses on the front lines of stopping money-laundering and terrorist financing.

The agency has struggled with how to regulate small-dollar and payday loans in recent years, pushing back its own deadline several times for completing a proposed rulemaking. That could be because the plan is so sweeping, some said.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Visa and MasterCard were coerced by law enforcement into cutting ties with a website that runs sex-related ads. The decision is a powerful statement in the debate over how far government officials can go in enlisting financial institutions as their deputies.

There is no shortage of opinions about payday loans. But the same cannot be said for hard research, which is needed before regulators write new rules for the industry.

A federal judge who dismissed a case against two high-cost lenders suggested the outcome was unfortunate, but said her hands were tied by the law.

Embattled online lender CashCall has paid nearly $2 million in restitution and fines for allegedly deceiving and overcharging borrowers, California's Department of Business Oversight announced.

The telemarketing industry will not be allowed to use remotely created checks and other forms of payments under rules adopted by the Federal Trade Commission. The measures, designed to reduce fraud against consumers, drew opposition from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and the banking industry.

Our nation has a long way to go to protect those defending our homeland. Stopping the damage of high-cost credit is an important first step.

Traditional installment lenders are fixtures in their communities and verify borrowers' ability to repay, which cannot be said of payday lenders.

Springleaf's proposed acquisition of Citi's OneMain Holdings is being delayed by the Justice Department, which appears focused on preserving competition at the local level — even as a raft of new subprime installment lenders are popping up on the Web.

Traditional banks avoid the short-term-credit market because its customers demand a level of customer service that is inconsistent with current models of retail banking, the head of a payday lending group writes.

Cash America International, a payday lender in Fort Worth, Texas, has named Brent Stuart chief executive.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including banks' subpar shareholder value and how big-data advocates can better communicate with critics who worry about the technology's potential discriminatory effects.

Small installment loans with monthly payments limited to 5% of a borrower's income offer a way for banks to serve low-income customers' credit needs while turning a profit.

In a rapidly growing market outside the purview of the Truth in Lending Act or state usury caps, online lenders' rates and fees can be next to impossible to compare.

The new regulations are meant to close loopholes in an interest rate cap that applies to active-duty soldiers and sailors. But financial institutions won at least one important concession.

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility said it found no support for allegations that federal lawyers wrongly pursued legal online payday lenders and forced banks to cut ties with legitimate businesses.

The Republican presidential contender is reviewing legislation opposed by banks that would allow payday loan stores to expand into a variety of new products and services.