Auto lending

An estimated 12 million Americans buy used cars through informal channels each year. Those consumers are underserved by traditional auto lenders, says Lending Club Chief Executive Renaud Laplanche.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings expects to endure more credit losses in the coming quarters, as it expands its portfolio of higher yielding, subprime loans. But its CEO sought to assure investors that its profits would far exceed those costs.

Santander Consumer USA Holdings in Dallas reported higher profits due to a spike in gains on loan sales.

The auto lender, which has been operating under tight regulatory restrictions since its bailout during the financial crisis, will now be allowed to use its federally insured deposit base to fund more of its loan portfolio.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau denied an auto dealer trade group's request for a document detailing limits imposed by Honda's financing arm on dealer price discretion.

Eagle Bancorp in Bethesda, Md., has sold its indirect auto loan portfolio to MainStreet Bank in Fairfax, Va.

TCF Financial in Wayzata, Minn., reported lower second-quarter profit as it paid more in salaries and employee benefits and a larger loss provision ate into net interest income.

The new regulations are meant to close loopholes in an interest rate cap that applies to active-duty soldiers and sailors. But financial institutions won at least one important concession.

Signature Bank in New York hired a BankUnited executive and four salesmen and underwriters for its new direct commercial-vehicle financing business.

American Honda Finance Corp. has agreed to pay $24 million to consumers and lower the dealer price caps to settle federal charges that minorities received higher-cost auto loans than white borrowers.

Auto title loans in California grew by more than 10% in number and dollar value last year and the market has almost doubled since 2011, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston reached a broad agreement with the U.S. affiliate of Spanish powerhouse Banco Santander calling for improvements in internal risk management, liquidity and capital adequacy controls.

The Detroit automaker's lending arm is teaming up with a peer-to-peer car-sharing app — a move that could foreshadow changes in how the industry underwrites auto loans.

California Republic Bancorp in Irvine has securitized and sold $390 million in notes backed by prime automobile loans.

Despite some silver lining, analysts say the Supreme Court decision upholding "disparate impact" in fair-lending disputes will only embolden activists and regulators to bring more cases.

The powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is helping to reshape mortgage and payday lending, but its attempts to curb abuses in auto lending have been largely stymied by the clout of car dealers and the fragmented nature of auto finance.

BB&T's auto-finance division will stop dealers from marking up the price on sales contracts, and instead will offer a flat-fee compensation program.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a final rule Wednesday that allows it to monitor the biggest nonbank auto finance companies.

Demand for automobile loans has soared to new levels, Equifax said in a Thursday report. Meanwhile, delinquencies of 60 days or more have hit their lowest point in nearly a decade.

At a time when regulators, prosecutors and the media have stepped up their scrutiny of subprime auto lending, some in the industry have changed their definitions of key terms in ways that downplay the risks involved.