PayThink

The CFPB should establish a working group – of banks, credit reporting agencies, other regulators, Silicon Valley startups, retail consumer lenders and others – to ensure a level regulatory playing field and to conduct a thoughtful examination of American consumer credit.

When I am ready to commit to paying many thousands of dollars financing a home, a car or my kid’s education, I will offer my business first to those institutions that helped me – a 'high-transaction, low-balance customer' – get there.

There are five major changes in Basel's latest guidelines that significantly impact its leverage ratio’s denominator, potentially leaving banks significantly undercapitalized in the event of an unexpected loss and endangering our economy.

Instead of trying to blame the Target breach on card companies and drag unrelated issues into the discussion, merchants should work with the payments industry to find solutions.

No matter how streamlined my finances have become, there is one regular nuisance: sending money to and from family or friends without the friction that requires recipients to provide hard-to-remember information like account numbers and routing numbers.

We’re asking customers from different demographics to describe what they are looking for from their financial services providers.

Every financial institution offers similar products and services as well as similar educational programs.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week.

Lenders can take advantage of a concept the CFPB missed: compensating factors. Strong credit histories, substantial down payments, stable jobs and documented incomes can offset high debt-to-income ratios, for example.

If regulators want to limit the damage in Main Street communities, they should completely exempt Trups CDOs from the Volcker Rule. This would avoid needless writedowns without putting Main Street communities at financial risk.