PayThink

With apologies to all the real cowboys and bronco riders out there, following are some steps that might help you ride out the economic downturn.

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Re: "Nonbank Mortgage Lenders Grapple with Licensing Mess": I take exception to an element of your otherwise exceptional reporting. For instance, "SAFE Act licensing is a much bigger issue for nonbank mortgage lenders, which, unlike their bank-owned competitors, must meet tougher educational requirements and take tests in every state where they want to be licensed."

As a commercial finance consultant and a former commercial banker, it is very clear to me that passage of H.R. 5297 is essential to developing any meaningful level of employment growth.

Notes from the road, beginning with the 1 CU Conference in Las Vegas, which was co-sponsored by CUNA and the World Council of Credit Unions, and which hosted 2,800 people from Australia through Zimbabwe.

Transferring credit risk to insurance companies, hedge funds and anyone else who wants it will free the banking system as a whole from dependence on shaky formulas that no one fully trusts.

The scoop by American Banker last week that Bank of America is charging some new customers a fee for paper statements generated a torrent of comments across the blogosphere

There is no question this past year has been one of extraordinary challenges to all those in the financial services industry. Yet, we are still standing. So the question is, "Now what?"

In politics, effective politicians have often found a middle ground between the federal and state charter, yet until recently there has not been a "third way" in the debate. One person is hoping to change that.

While the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was being rolled out before a shocked Congress and national taxpayer audience, NCUA, CUNA, NAFCU and NPCUs were quietly (some even smugly) sitting on the Toxic Asset Containment Secret (TACS).