OceanFirst Financial in Toms River, N.J., has agreed to buy Cape Bancorp in Cape May Court House, N.J.

Consumer credit is better than ever before, even as Americans households have started levering up. But the big question for banks looking to re-commit to consumer lending is how.

Banking industry officials hailed changes Tuesday to a Financial Accounting Standards Board rule that they have long complained unfairly distorts banks' quarterly earnings.

Ally Financial in Detroit has received a demand from an activist investor to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. The activist is also seeking two board seats.

Community Shores Bank Corp. in Muskegon, Mich., has raised about $5.3 million and has been released from an enforcement action.

Grant Bancshares in Natchitoches, La., has acquired Bank of Ringgold in Louisiana.

Four Oaks Fincorp in Four Oaks, N.C., has appointed Lisa Herring chief operating officer of the company and Four Oaks Bank & Trust.

The huge growth of online banking, including mobile, has transformed the industry, bringing tremendous choice, flexibility and convenience to consumers and businesses. But online banking can also be a source of fraud. Watch this video and learn the real risks of web fraud to financial institutions and ways to prevent it.

Oak Valley Bancorp in Oakdale, Calif., has promoted Jeff Gall to chief financial officer. Gall had been the vice president of finance and accounting.

The number of locally owned banks in Westchester County has shrunk from 25 institutions in the 1970s to just four today. PCSB, which moved its headquarters to the county after buying a local bank, hopes to settle in quickly.

Banks have made changes to overdrafts, such as lowering fees offering clearer explanations. They better, as the CFPB will soon offer new rules for overdrafts. Plus, overdraft revenue has declined at many banks. Still unanswered is the question of how to offer short-term credit, if overdrafts disappear.

WASHINGTON — JPMorgan Chase and EverBank were released from business restrictions stemming from the foreclosure reviews that originated in 2011, but also face new civil money penalties for their earlier violations of those restrictions, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Tuesday.

A key consumer confidence measure showed consumers had a more positive view of the economy in December than a month earlier and their optimism about the labor market also has improved.

After the death of former House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley on Jan. 1, the media largely focused on his most famous accomplishment: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

At the start of 2015, there was a sense that Silicon Valley would soon rule the world of finance and that banks risked irrelevance. A year later, a more balanced picture has emerged.

Riverview Financial in Harrisburg, Pa., has completed an acquisition that it had shelved last summer.

A New York resident can bring a lawsuit in federal court to challenge debt collection practices under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for a loan that was discharged in bankruptcy, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Monday.

Sierra Bancorp in Porterville, Calif., has agreed to buy Coast Bancorp in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

If impending rules on overdraft protection go too far, banks could intentionally pull back on providing the service to illustrate just how useful it is.

CommonBond, a New York firm that makes student loans through an online platform, said Tuesday that it has raised more than $275 million in debt funding from Barclays and others.