PayThink

Consumers are regularly disappointed when they are drawn into accounts portrayed as "free" and then wind up being socked with fees and charges. Then they tell all their friends.

A compliance checklist for CEOs? That almost sounds like an oxymoron. Traditionally, bank CEOs did not give much thought to regulatory compliance unless something went wrong. However, as the regulatory environment continues to be enforcement-focused, bank CEOs must scan not only the economic landscape, but the regulatory one as well.

Mortgage securitization blew up the home price bubble and detonated the financial crisis. How?

Despite new threats of legal challenges or hopes for structural changes, this agency cannot be wished away. But banks can still influence the size and nature of the role the CFPB will play.

Presidential elections historically turn on the condition of the economy, and economic recovery has historically relied on a housing market recovery.

Customers might think banks are giving them great deals when they’re actually getting ripped off. Upfront charges, however annoying, are far preferable to hidden costs.

There’s a difference between projecting confidence and ignoring risk. In their public handicapping of mortgage litigation, bank executives have done the latter.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued announcements with respect to the mortgage consent orders stating that consumers who believe they were financially harmed during the mortgage foreclosure process by specific financial institutions in 2009 and 2010 can potentially receive compensation.

Fearless forecasts for consumer finance and bank technology in the new year.

Recently, after giving a speech to a banker group that skewed rather young, the bank's head recruiter offered me a ride to the airport. Along the way, she told me that she had paid special attention during my presentation to the reactions of their newer hires in the audience.