PayThink

Developing new online platforms to lower APRs to 365% is a waste of resources. Instead, lenders can tackle the payday problem by partnering together, cultivating loyalty and capping expected default rates.

Individuals who blew the whistle on a mortgage fraud scheme that cost JPMorgan Chase $296 million in fines have three months to prove that their information helped lead to the settlement.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law, will require some mortgage servicers to develop general plans for avoiding complications arising from the transfer of servicing rights.

The traditional payday loan structure should cease to serve as the standard by which innovation in this credit space is measured.

Banks are beginning to use considerable discretion in deciding what constitutes an illegal act and sometimes even an immoral act. Freeze the funds first ... ask questions later.

The bulwarks of financial privacy may, by default, become unsanctioned, underground networks like Bitcoin and startups run by youngsters brazen, or naive, enough to test the legal and regulatory limits.

The stress of margin compression, combined with the need to generate additional income to maintain investors' return on equity hurdles, is driving more and more community banks into riskier activities.

A cashless society is all well and good. But without the option of private, untraceable payments, life would become unbearable and institutions like marriage and religion could suffer.

Data released recently and featured in this issue of Credit Union Journal uncovered a couple of things one would not have imagined all that long ago.

Recently, the five federal financial regulators released proposed guidelines to help banks and credit unions manage their use of social media networks, like Facebook and Twitter.