Consumer lending

Amid rising interest rates and vehicle costs, longer loan terms and more, credit union auto lenders have two paths they can take to manage the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

The subprime lender could lose a big partner now that Fiat Chrysler has officially announced it will form its own auto finance unit, and the two are negotiating an end to their 6-year-old relationship.

The agency’s recent bulletin could help banks get back into the small-dollar lending business, keeping needy borrowers out of debt traps. But other regulatory limits remain in focus.

The banker made $140,000 in illegal trading profits; the German bank faces Fed stress test and “living will” examination soon.

Readers react to acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney easing mortgage reporting requirements, opine on facial recognition systems, weigh in on Wells Fargo’s attempts to change its culture and more.

Dark clouds may not yet be on the horizon, but industry executives are sending the message to investors that they know a turn in the credit cycle is coming, and they are planning accordingly.

Proposal would simplify the rule prohibiting proprietary trading; Fiat Chrysler, which accounts for about a third of the unit’s business, may go solo.

Fiat Chrysler is expected to announce Friday that it will establish its own captive finance unit in the U.S. The move could be bad news for its lending partners.

It's gotten a lot harder to borrow money from the raft of fintech firms looking to bring online lending into the mainstream.

A broader cross-section of hires and added training could help financial institutions avoid problems with algorithm-based discrimination in lending.

Just two months ago, Comptroller Joseph Otting seemed to signal that the OCC might be open to letting national banks rent their charters to payday lenders. Now he is clarifying that it won’t happen.

An OCC initiative to get more banks to make short-term loans that rival those of payday lenders isn't enough of an enticement.

Comprehensive analysis of the banking industry's first big legislative victory since the crisis; lawsuits target banks with websites in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act; what a homegrown app for millennials has to teach Wells Fargo; and more from this week's most-read stories.

While industry officials welcomed a bulletin from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency encouraging banks to develop alternatives to payday loans, they are making no commitments to offer such products.

The economy has been expanding for nine years, but one credit union economist believes the tide could be about to turn – and soon.

The NCUA board is considering adding as many as two additional payday alternative loan options for credit unions, and regulators have clarified a rule on severance claims after involuntary credit union liquidations.

A chunk of alternative loan customers are perfectly creditworthy, a report from the credit bureau shows.

It's too late for Congress to overturn the consumer bureau's regulation on short-term lending, but acting Director Mick Mulvaney will have plenty of chances to reshape it.

Otting wants banks to make small loans to consumers; the German bank will reduce headcount by at least 7,000.

It’s not just weaker underwriting and higher household debt levels that are driving past-due rates to their highest levels in seven years.