Consumer lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent offensive against redlining by nonbank mortgage originators is increasingly relying on internal communications to make charges stick.

The pandemic-era freeze on student debt payments has "dramatically" improved credit scores for Americans who borrowed money to pay for college, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said.

Websites such as Credit Karma and LendingTree, which work closely with financial institutions, have had to rethink their strategies to bounce back from the pandemic.

Funding constraints are a "business problem that we need to address," CEO Dave Girouard said. The online consumer lender has seen a significant drop in demand for its loans from banks and investors.

Data as of Mar. 31, 2022. Dollars in thousands.

Data as of Mar. 31, 2022. Dollars in thousands.

Late-payment rates are rising at nonbanks that lend to people with lower credit scores. "We're probably entering a stretch where you're going to see a separation between those that are relatively good underwriters and those that are not," one analyst said.

Equifax said some consumer credit scores were changed because of a computer error that has since been rectified.

Even though delinquency rates were previously at extremely low levels, the recent uptick among poorer consumers is worth monitoring, New York Fed researchers said.

The San Francisco company is relying more on banks and credit unions, and its own acquisition of a bank last year, to fund its consumer lending business. The flexibility has proved helpful as demand from other loan buyers wanes.