Consumer lending

Investors drove up the stock prices of both companies after Ally Financial said it's selling its point-of-sale lending business to Synchrony Financial. The deal is expected to help Ally focus on its bread-and-butter auto lending business, while also aiding Synchrony's efforts to gain market share.

As part of a settlement with the Justice Department, Patriot Bank must invest more than $1 million of the total in a loan subsidy fund for minority homeowners and take other corrective steps in its everyday business. The bank denied any wrongdoing.

Personal spending chugged along in the fourth quarter, thanks to the resilient job market. But loan charge-offs rose, and higher interest rates suppressed loan demand, executives say.

Funding pressures moderated in recent months, but loan charge-offs climbed. With festering concerns about a vulnerable economy, the potential for elevated credits costs could loom large over the upcoming bank earnings season.

The lawsuit accuses Navy Federal of violating the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act after a CNN report that the lender approved a lower percentage of Black and Latino mortgage applicants.

While medical debt is not a problem created by the financial services industry, the industry has a critical role to play in addressing it.

The Ohio Democrat is pressuring the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo to proactively provide financial benefits to active-duty service members. Those protections are enshrined in a 2003 law, but many service members do not seek them out.

Leaders at the helms of organizations like Georgia United Credit Union, BayPort Credit Union, Blend Labs and more are adapting products such as "soft check" credit scoring, artificial intelligence-powered bots to streamline application reviewal and more.

The Georgia-based bank says it's expanding its relationship with GreenSky, a home improvement lender that Goldman Sachs bought in 2022 but put up for sale a year later. The deal will bring a one-time revenue boost and a recurring fee income stream.

Frustrated by its inability to overcome loan-servicing mistakes that triggered three separate regulatory consent orders, Discover Financial Services elected to sell its student loan business. "When we looked at it, we have perennial issues in our ability to service that portfolio," a top executive said.

Too few lenders are underwriting unsecured consumer debt, which could help borrowers pay down credit card balances with little risk to lenders.

After nearly a decade of regulatory headaches, Discover Financial Services is looking to sell its private student loan business. Its stock jumped 4% after the news.

A London court handed a big win to Deutsche Bank and other creditors holding obscure notes issued by Lehman Brothers before its collapse.

Synchrony Financial bought Pets Best ahead of a pandemic-driven surge in the pet insurance business. Now it's selling the subsidiary for a $750 million after-tax gain.

A proposal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to hide medical debt from credit bureaus zeroes in on the unfairness of medical debt, but further reducing credit scores' utility as a proxy for a borrower's ability to repay doesn't do anyone any good.

Financial firms claim a proposal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would restrict lending, raise borrowing costs and result in more denials of credit to consumers.

Stress tests suggest systemically important depositories could weather current risks. Meanwhile, single-family arrears remain low, but that business could be impacted.

Capping interest rates may be popular with consumers, and ultimately voters, but doing so would actually hurt those advocates are trying to help.

A national interest rate cap of 36% would protect consumers from predatory practices that exploit their desperation and would level the playing field with responsible lenders who offer fair and transparent products.

OneMain Financial, which mainly offers consumer installment loans, is paying $115 million to buy a small subprime auto lender from the investment bank Jefferies.