Consumer lending

European banks plan to sell $109 billion of bad debt in 2015 to reduce costs and rebuild their balance sheets, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP report.

Ontario Systems has expanded its Compliance Consulting Services to offer an enhanced scoring model called OntarioComply that analyzes more than 225 compliance obligations.

A federal class-action lawsuit alleges credit bureau TransUnion illegally charges $10 before it places security freezes on the files of people who are dealing with identity theft.

The city of Yonkers, N.Y., has amended its Consumer Protection Code to include revised requirements for debt collection agencies.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced his ongoing co-sponsorship of legislation aimed at allowing people with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at the lower interest rates offered to new borrowers. The measure has resurfaced in the 114th Congress.

Thirteen Minnesota hospital systems reported a bad-debt increase of $15 million between 2013 and 2014 even as charity care costs - reported by 10 hospital systems - fell by about $37 million in the same period, according to an analysis by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Equifax Inc. and Zoot Enterprises announced Monday plans for the release of Mobility Plus, an end-to-end service that leverages Equifax data and Zoot decisioning technology to ease the mobile account opening process while helping to minimize fraud risk.

Ally Bank, which has been known for online deposit-gathering and ads that poked fun at traditional banks, was the envy of some in the industry and a source of anger for others. But now it is looking to alter its business model as its struggling parent company retools.

An Illinois federal court dismissed a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case that involved a collection account number being visible on an envelope containing a debt collection letter. The decision goes against a high-profile collection case ruling last year.

Unifund Group has acquired First Resolution Investment Corp., including all assets and an estimated 72,000 accounts with a face value of $1 billion.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a contentious policy Thursday allowing customers to describe their banking experiences more fully on the agency's complaint portal.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling has received a grant award totaling $2.3 million from NeighborWorks America to support foreclosure prevention efforts through its Member Agencies.

The long-standing practice of banks and mortgage lenders paying real estate brokers and homebuilders for referrals could soon be coming to an end.

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a contentious policy Thursday allowing customers to describe their banking experiences more fully on the agency's complaint portal.

Four Oaks Bank in North Carolina has named Warren "Rocky" Herring its chief credit officer. Herring had held the same job at Premier Commercial Bank in Greensboro, N.C., before NewBridge Bancorp bought it last month.

The first mortgage default rate dropped for the first time since July 2014 after months of steady increases, according to the February S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices report.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday it’s adding two new topics - debt collection practices and ability-to-repay standards - to a planned second credit card market study that could lead to new rules and enforcement actions

Nevada lawmakers reviewed a bill Monday to curb predatory short-term lending by better disclosing the rates and risks of payday loans.

West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill Saturday to make changes to the state’s Consumer Credit and Protection Act concerning collecting debts, including the codification of abusive call volume.

Private student loans would no longer be exempt from protections when borrowers file for bankruptcy, under a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.