Retail & Commercial

Every day, debt collectors deal with people who have found themselves in tough and sensitive financial situations.

Three Colorado law firms accused of inflating foreclosure costs charged to homeowners and padding bills with unauthorized expenses agreed Thursday to settle lawsuits filed by outgoing Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

Disaffected big bank customers are looking for a reason to switch. Community banks and credit unions should take advantage of this opportunity with a collective ad campaign that positions their institutions as friendly, helpful and morally upright alternatives to major lenders.

JPMorgan Chase said it's on track to eliminate 3,000 more jobs this year than previously forecast in its mortgage and credit-card divisions.

A Minnesota process serving company and one of its process servers are charged with falsely claiming some people were served with debt collection lawsuits, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson.

Ocwen Financial is making progress to settle allegations against it, but that does not mean it will be cheap, one analyst says. The current servicing freeze in the industry has grown so serious that some say it may be delaying the government’s goals to expand the availability of mortgage credit.

Fidelity Southern in Atlanta has agreed to buy deposits and loans from Florida Capital Bank.

MasterCard has agreed to buy the merchant payments unit of Transaction Network Services in Reston, Va.,a deal that would expand the e-commerce services offered by DataCash, MasterCard's payment processing subsidiary.

The City of Providence, R.I., has dropped its lawsuit against Santander Bank, over charges the bank deliberately failed to provide mortgages in minority communities.

Freddie Mac is growing its single-family business and taking market share from its fellow government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae.