Merchant

WASHINGTON — In 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. He only briefly touched on debt collection rules.

Many colleges partner with banks to offer their students special accounts through exclusive bank-school marketing arrangements. Unfortunately, the benefits afforded to students through these accounts are grossly overstated, while the potential harm the arrangements cause can be significant.

A sweepstakes operator is permanently banned from direct mail marketing and is liable for a $9.5 million judgment under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which charged her with violating a previous court order by running a sweepstakes scam.

Big banks and institutional investors picked up the pace of loan approvals for small businesses in January, while small banks and alternative lenders continued to see their approval rates decline, according to a monthly lending index.

Encryption has become a political hot potato for the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council as it compiles a list of validated encryption vendors and services — and leaves off some companies that say they deserve to be recognized as secure.

The creation of a new cybersecurity agency is the latest move by the Obama administration to combat the increasing threat of cyberattacks.

More than 100,000 potential plaintiffs can pursue class-action litigation accusing Leucadia National Corp. and a law firm of illegally winning default judgments in debt collection cases, a federal appeals court in New York ruled Tuesday.

Hackers in several financial services industry data breaches targeted customer-contact information that is often thought of as less sensitive. But crooks can use that data and other bits of stolen info to do great harm.

New York resident Nadia Figueroa pleaded guilty Tuesday for her role in stealing customer data while employed as a JPMorgan Chase bank teller. The scheme netted $850,000.

A Switzerland-based firm on Tuesday acquired Akcelerant, a U.S.-based financial software provider active in the accounts receivable management space.