Retail & Commercial

Freddie Mac's top lawyer threatened to file suit against municipalities that attempt to use eminent domain to refinance underwater mortgages.

Even as policymakers plot its demise, Fannie is raising the prices it pays to community lenders for mortgage loans — outbidding large-bank aggregators like Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.

In a Web chat with Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, Obama said he'll urge Congress to act on a reform package to wind down Fannie and Freddie and place housing on a "more stable footing," but also give homeowners "a chance to refinance while interest rates are still low."

Wells Fargo (WFC) is laying off 763 employees in its Home Mortgage division.

Bankers are pressing ahead with sales of nonperforming commercial loans, and debt collectors are buying them up, even though regulatory pressure has slowed or halted the unloading of bad consumer loans.

Naugatuck Valley Financial in Connecticut is attempting the same transition that scores of other banks have completed in the last year, purging past mistakes in an effort to concentrate more on expansion.

GAHANNA, Ohio – Fast-growing KEMBA Financial CU said it plans to add as many as five new branches in the next few years, as it grows to meet an expanded field of membership.

Cardtronics' purchase of Cardpoint Ltd. in Europe helps the Houston-based ATM operator expand into more of the U.K. and enter Germany, two countries whose populations rely more heavily on cash.

Nothing shows a banker or financier has arrived like having a prominent architectural edifice named after him. Some who've enjoyed such distinction have gone on to garner public attention for far less flattering matters, including serious legal troubles. Here's a look at prominent figures, and institutions, that fit the profile.

The decline of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could usher in a mortgage renaissance for community banks facilitated by their natural partner, the Federal Home Loan Bank System.