Pacific Capital Bancorp in Santa Barbara, Calif., managed to turn a third-quarter profit despite heavy losses in its portfolio of tax-refund anticipation loans.

A survey released last month found that about a third of Texas banks are using remote deposit capture technology — a rate on par with the rest of the nation — though the number of customers using it at each bank is lagging in comparison to the national average.

Deteriorating credit quality slashed Imperial Capital Bancorp Inc.'s third-quarter profits by 75% from a year earlier, to $1.7 million.

Atlantic Coast Federal Corp. of Waycross, Ga., said Wednesday that third-quarter profits fell 48% from a year earlier, to $789,000, as a result of deteriorating real estate conditions in its markets.

The tax-refund loan business has caused Pacific Capital Bancorp considerable headaches of late, but mindful of the unit’s hefty contributions to earnings in prior periods, the Santa Barbara, Calif., company seems reluctant to part with it.

MIDWEST

Shares of Centennial Bank Holdings Inc. of Denver surged 5% Wednesday, to $5.50, after the company said it would unload $31.5 million of nonperforming real estate loans in northern Colorado.

Provident Bankshares Corp. of Baltimore says it is developing an Internet banking unit with high-yield accounts to retain customers it thinks otherwise might move their funds to an Internet-only competitor.

WSB Financial Group in Bremerton, Wash., gave more detail about the allegations of mortgage fraud that sent its stock plummeting 60% last week.

Pacific Capital Bancorp in Santa Barbara, Calif., announced after the markets closed Monday that it would record a loan-loss provision of $22.4 million in the third quarter to reflect increased losses in its tax-refund anticipation loan business.

Superior Bancorp in Birmingham, Ala., said Monday that its third-quarter earnings rose 78% from a year earlier, to $1.5 million.

Heartland Financial USA Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa, said Monday that its third-quarter earnings were unchanged from a year earlier, at $6.9 million.

Bankers affected by last week's wildfires in southern California used lessons learned from earlier fires in the region, as well as from Hurricane Katrina, to stay in touch with employees and get cash to customers quickly.

Colleen Haggerty, a spokeswoman for the $1.6 trillion-asset Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte, said it took a cue from bankers in Louisiana and Mississippi, who had reported cash shortages after Katrina, and deployed mobile ATMs at a number of evacuation centers in San Diego County. Noncustomers in the area were allowed to use its ATMs surcharge-free, she said.

BankAtlantic Bancorp Inc.’s shares fell to a six-year low Friday after the Fort Lauderdale company reported a $29.6 million third-quarter loss, almost all related to the crumbling Florida real estate market.

It took a lot of arm-twisting for Happy State Bank in Texas to agree to buy a trust company that specializes in issuing bonds for church construction, but it took to the business so much that it bought a second one, and it does not plan to stop there.

FirstFed Financial Corp. in Santa Monica, Calif., said Friday that third-quarter earnings fell 29%, to $23 million, due to lower net interest income, losses on real estate operations and higher operating costs.

Two of the top positions at the Texas Savings and Mortgage Department will be vacant soon.

Premier Financial Bancorp Inc. of Huntington, W.Va., has a deal to buy Citizens First Bank Inc. of Ravenswood for $11.7 million.