Consumer lending

As the holiday shopping season approaches, late payments on credit cards have surpassed their pre-pandemic levels, according to a new VantageScore report. The consumers showing signs of deterioration include not only subprime borrowers, but also those with prime credit scores.

In a pilot it rolled out this year, Nashville-based Vanderbilt Credit Union will lend graduates up to $160,000 if they have a job offer sheet in hand.

The student loan servicer said that it's open to settling a high-stakes lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during the Obama administration. It recorded a $45 million charge and said that the range of reasonably possible losses is between $0 and $250 million.

The credit-card issuer is tightening its lending standards and bracing for the potential effects of a cap on card late fees. Charge-offs are rising, but company executives say that customers are showing surprising strength.

Executives say the $213 billion-asset company's strong credit performance in the third quarter positions it to pursue loan growth next year.

The "Get My Rate" tool, launched on Sept. 4 in collaboration with SavvyMoney, tells current and prospective members what loan rates they qualify for without adversely affecting their credit scores.

Charge-offs at the Detroit-based lender rose last quarter, as borrowers had a tougher time keeping up with their car payments. But so far, credit quality is staying within expectations, and company executives don't anticipate that the rest of the year will be much worse.

Goldman Sachs said that its partnerships with Apple and General Motors are hard to exit in the short term. So the investment banking giant is concentrating on making the deals profitable, even as it acknowledges that they may not be a long-term fit.

JPMorgan Chase now tops Wells Fargo in third-party servicing, origination volume and on-balance-sheet home loans, according to company filings.

Amplify Credit Union in Austin provided funding for the construction of 28 tiny homes to create more affordable housing in Round Rock, Texas. Several banks had previously shot down the project.

The San Antonio-based lender is introducing new products targeted at borrowers who make less than 80% of their county's median income. The loans, which will qualify for Community Reinvestment Act credit, could help expand access to the state's increasingly expensive housing market.

Jeffrey Brown, who's been Ally Financial's top executive for nearly nine years, plans to leave the company by early next year. His exit comes as deteriorating credit quality and rising interest rates are biting into Ally's profits.

Goldman is offloading the lending platform less than two years after acquiring it as part of a broader retreat from the mass market.

Brown, who's been Ally Financial's top executive for nearly nine years, joined the company 14 years ago and played a key role in reshaping it after the financial crisis. He will become the president of a large auto dealer group.

Credit cards and auto loans both showed weakness in the second quarter, leading to an uptick in delinquencies and charge-offs for U.S. credit unions.

Following the end of a long moratorium for federal student loan borrowers, monthly payments are expected to total $18 billion. Much of that money will come from checking and savings accounts, which will put more pressure on banks' deposit bases.

The Detroit-based firm said the job cuts will occur across divisions and aren't isolated to a single line of business.

With multiple economic factors driving up the costs of owning a vehicle, the $1.9 billion-asset institution in New Hampshire is partnering with Credit Union Leasing of America to make car ownership more affordable for members.

German financial watchdog BaFin has appointed an independent monitor to oversee Deutsche Bank's progress in resolving issues at its consumer unit. It's the second time BaFin has taken the unusual step since Christian Sewing became CEO in 2018.

The combination of inflation and rising interest rates over the last 18 months has made it more difficult for Americans to stay on top of their loan payments, especially on credit cards and auto loans.