Consumer lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said the Evansville, Indiana, installment lender had engaged in "unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices," and failed to reimburse interest to consumers who had cancelled certain add-on products.

Customers of banks that provide small-dollar loans are still turning to higher-cost lenders, according to a recent survey. The significance of the findings has sparked a debate between the payday lending industry and its critics.

Artificial intelligence can help cut bias out of credit models. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should make it easier for lenders to adopt it.

Chicago has one of the largest unbanked populations in the country, so United Credit Union rolled out a loan program aimed at those people who would typically use a payday lender.

Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are particularly active as they build educational microsites and drive digital lending with EV manufacturers.

Balances reached nearly $1 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 17% from a year earlier. The increase reflects higher spending by well-off consumers on travel and entertainment, as well as the pressure that lower-income households are facing from inflation and higher interest rates.

Delinquency rates in credit cards, auto and personal loans are effectively back to normal after three years of unusually strong credit performance. Industry executives say the current situation is easily manageable, but they do anticipate that key metrics will continue to worsen.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a policy statement that banks risk violating the prohibition on "unfair acts and practices," by reopening a consumer's deposit account to process transactions after the account has already been closed.

Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho have reintroduced a bill that would deploy roughly $100 million in aid through the Community Development Financial Institution Fund to back pilot programs that would foster secondary markets for loan sales.

Researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia have come up with a plan for letting banks innovate with artificial intelligence and widening access to credit at the same time.