Banking

The Federal Trade Commission is launching two new robocall contests challenging the public to develop a crowd-source honeypot and better analyze data from an existing honeypot.

The subprime consumer lending business is booming. But lenders that think they have the risk-based pricing model figured out may be in for a rude awakening.

When the government owns banks, lending decisions tend to be driven by politics rather than economics. Resources flow to those with influence and banks under-price risk in order to appeal to voters. That's bad news for everyone.

FCB Financial Holdings in Weston, Fla., has terminated its loss-share agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Banks process billions of dollars in international remittances, and the business is growing. But complex competing forces — namely anti-laundering rules and pressure from humanitarian groups — make the decision to stay in the business a difficult one.

More than half of borrowers with home equity lines of credit that will reset this year have seriously underwater properties, and that risk is likely to grow further next year.

As a bank customer, I am trained to avoid fees at all costs. I diligently maintain a minimum balance in my accounts, pay my credit card bills weeks ahead of time and plan my day around getting to a bank-owned ATM to avoid surcharges.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency won't keep renewing initiatives like the Home Affordable Refinance Program in perpetuity, even if it is extended again before it expires in December, Director Mel Watt said Wednesday.

Loan demand continues to increase across the country, even though some economic sectors are still struggling, according to a report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Board.

Citigroup reached a deal to issue most of its global consumer credit and debit cards on MasterCard's network.

Some newcomers to mortgage servicing did not hedge because hedging would have increased costs. Had rates moved up, the strategy would have paid off handsomely. Instead, it worked against them.

A consumer lender with nearly 300 far-flung offices struggled to keep up with multiple compliance projects using email and Microsoft Project. Then it turned to collaboration software, and demanded some customized changes, that helped tie its many loose threads together.

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors wants Congress to adopt a formal community bank definition, based on qualitative factors such as local governance structure and business models.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has affirmed a district court’s dismissal of claims against debt buyer LVNV Funding for filing proofs of claim in a state where it was not licensed as a debt collector.

ICBA Bancard has allocated nearly $600,000 to support community banks as they navigate the transition to EMV chip-and-PIN cards this year, the wholly owned payment services subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America announced this week.

Francisco Gonzalez, who has been warning for almost a decade of the technological transformation set to engulf the financial industry, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona March 4 that his bank would define itself as a software company.

A Washington state law that restricts payday loan marketing to poor families has caused the state’s payday lenders to lose three-quarters of their business in the five years since it was enacted, according to published reports.

The FTC and 10 state attorneys general have taken action against a Florida-based cruise line company and seven other companies that assisted a massive telemarketing campaign resulting in billions of robocalls.