Consumer lending

The sharp fall in gas prices early this year helped U.S. consumers to stay current on their credit obligations during the first quarter.

Reports from the big three credit bureaus do not include information about payday loans, but a CFPB proposal figures to shake up that arms-length relationship.

The number of customers who obtained 10 payday loans in 2015 outnumbered those who obtained just one, the California Department of Business Oversight said in a report Wednesday.

Installment lenders are concerned that efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to curb the most abusive and predatory practices associated with payday loans will wreak havoc on their business.

Fannie and Freddie regulator's first report on NPL sales shows more borrowers avoid foreclosures when their loans are sold to investors.

Some critics of the bureau think there is a renewed chance to change the bureau's structure. They point to the presidential election and recent setbacks to CFPB Director Richard Cordray, including a watchdog's report on employee discrimination and a pending legal challenge to its constitutionality, as laying the groundwork for a change.

Banks, credit card companies and other financial firms are strategizing ways to stave off higher legal bills they expect from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to limit the use of arbitration clauses, which is likely to open the floodgates to class action lawsuits.

Debt collection complaints fell in May, and the average of complaints from March through May also dropped, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest monthly complaint report.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed a class-action lawsuit against Encore Capital Group Inc. to proceed, declining to hear the debt-buying giant's claim that such companies should be protected from state laws barring money-lending at unreasonably high interest rates.

WASHINGTON — Community banks and credit unions would be forced to stop making short-term, small dollar loans if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday lending proposal is adopted, two trade groups said Monday.

The court's decision to return Madden v. Midland Funding to a lower court leaves unresolved a number of important questions for marketplace lenders and other parts of the consumer-finance industry.

In a setback for the U.S. consumer finance industry, the Supreme Court said Monday that it will not review a lower court's decision that bolstered the ability of states to enforce bans on high-cost lending.

A libel lawsuit against a Pennsylvania newspaper and three reporters will continue following a ruling by the Pennsylvania Superior Court. A judge brought the suit following a fake courtroom debt collections case.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should have looked more closely at states like Colorado that protect consumers from true predatory lenders while still preserving access to credit.

Counties that had high uninsured rates prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act have seen per capita collection balances fall if their state expanded Medicaid.

Community bankers are trying to determine how they can offer affordable small-dollar loans that fit within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complex 1,341-page payday lending plan.

Frustrated by low yields on commercial and real estate loans, banks are finding innovative ways to beef up their consumer loan books. They are creating new business lines, teaming with established retailers, even partnering with alternative lenders in an effort to diversify and generate new streams of revenue.

WASHINGTON — Banks in states with legal marijuana businesses may warm up to them as customers if an amendment to a Senate appropriations bill becomes law.

The U.S. Department of Education has proposed regulations to strengthen a rule against predatory practices by post-secondary institutions.

Lawsuit filings for all key statutes impacting debt collectors dropped in May, according to the latest numbers pulled from U.S. district courts.