Consumer lending

Twenty lenders from across the country are participating in Underwriting for Racial Justice, a collaborative effort to develop new criteria that will enable marginalized borrowers to gain access to credit.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services released a request for comment on medical debt financing products. At the same time, the White House said that the agencies will explore whether efforts to sign up customers are breaking the law.

Bonds backed by car loans made by U.S. Auto Sales and American Car Center, two used-car dealers that shut their doors earlier this year, have been veering into distress in recent weeks. Meanwhile, borrowers have been falling behind on payments.

As President Biden tries to revive a key campaign promise to provide widespread debt relief to student-loan borrowers after a Supreme Court setback, legal experts warn that he's likely to encounter a fresh wave of lawsuits challenging his authority to act without congressional approval.

The Supreme Court's decision to strike down billions in debt forgiveness could make it harder for millions of Americans to pay back other kinds of debt. It also threatens to further curtail lending in an already sluggish credit market.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, challenged the idea that credit card late fees serve as a deterrent to delinquency, instead saying issuers told her office that some of them earn tens of millions of dollars collecting late fees.

The regional bank is expected to issue around three to five more bonds backed by its $11.5 billion loan book. Citizens earlier this month said it will halt new auto lending in partnership with dealers starting July 1.

The legislation would have allowed nonbank lenders to charge more for consumer installment loans. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, explained his veto by saying that the bill might result in additional consumer indebtedness.

The category shifted into high gear during the first quarter, but experts predict a severe slowdown based on a growing number of economic concerns.

Rising interest rates on loans, greater borrowing and higher fees on deposit accounts all contributed to the increase. "Altogether, this paints a picture of debt that could really start to strain the checkbooks of American families," said Meghan Greene, a researcher at the nonprofit organization that authored the report.