Consumer lending

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office has reached a $19.7 million settlement with Cavalry Portfolio Services in a six-year-old case where the debt collection firm faced accusations of pursuing debts in West Virginia without a license to do so.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a tough balancing act as it seeks to issue a proposal to rein in high-cost payday loans.

The Federal Trade Commission cautioned the collection industry to avoid buying, selling or collecting any alleged payday loan debt portfolios serviced by AMG Services.

Ally Financial in Detroit reached a truce with Lion Point Capital, as it agreed to appoint an independent director in consultation with the activist investor.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau faces a tough balancing act as it seeks to issues a proposal to rein in high-cost payday loans. A chief concern is what will replace payday lenders if federal regulations force many of them to shut down.

Chicago-based Avant said Monday that it has started offering to refinance car owners’ loans. The firm also plans to begin financing purchases of new and used vehicles later in 2016.

A red light camera company is settling a lawsuit with thousands of drivers in New Mexico. The drivers claimed the company and its collection agency hassled them non-stop after voters in the city canceled the program in 2011 and the cameras were removed.

Last year marked another strong year for the auto loan market as originations increased compared to 2014, while the mix of loans across the entire credit spectrum held for the fourth year in a row, according to Equifax.

The Federal Reserve Board has terminated enforcement actions issued in 2010 against American Bank of Baxter Springs in Kansas and CB Financial in Wilson, N.C., and issued one against Hazard Bancorp in Kentucky.

A California federal judge has ordered debt relief company Morgan Drexen Inc. to pay the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau more than $173 million to resolve an August 2013 lawsuit claiming the company collected illegal upfront fees for debt settlement service and ran deceptive advertisements.

An Illinois appeals panel found that collection agency HBLC may have broken federal collection laws by suing a man over a contested debt after the statute of limitations had expired.

Payday loan customers in Alabama would pay less under a bill that won approval Wednesday from the Alabama House Financial Services Committee.

Endorsements from lawmakers such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren of the U.S. Postal Service providing banking services overlook how a similar plan faltered after the Panic of 1907.

Rising delinquencies in subprime auto lending predictably have drawn comparisons to the mortgage meltdown of nearly a decade ago.

In what has become almost a grim ritual, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray faced a barrage of hostile questioning from Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee, who hammered him over everything from payday lending to regulatory relief for small banks.

The increasingly troubled sector often draws comparisons to the subprime mortgage market of the 2000s. But the more apt analogue is the auto-lending sector of the 1990s.

American Banker Research's Index of Banking Activity, which had the lowest reading in its nearly four-year history in January, revealed that issues in oil-producing states are contributing to decreases in commercial loan applications and approvals.

A lawsuit concerning how the court system in Biloxi, Miss. treats poor people who can’t pay fine won’t continue after the city, the American Civil Liberties Union and a private probation service agreed Tuesday to settle the case.

Signs of the subprime mortgage crisis were obvious long before the 2008 meltdown. Some recognized the danger but most dismissed the threats, arguing that a decline in home values would never happen. Other signs of distress went unnoticed or unappreciated.

Many people - across all age groups - lack retirement savings.