Consumer lending

Ride-hailing services and public transit were gaining ground until the pandemic struck, but the outbreak has quickly and radically changed how consumers think about buying cars.

Tom Pahl, a former longtime regulator at the Federal Trade Commission, has led key rulemaking efforts for the consumer bureau.

Wells Fargo is pulling back from student lending as the surge in coronavirus cases threatens to further disrupt higher education and the broader U.S. economy.

The report from the regulator offers an industry-wide look at how credit unions have fared during the pandemic. Since the outbreak worsened in April and into May, credit quality could possibly worsen while earnings may sag even further.

The Paycheck Protection Program propped up many banks' balance sheets in the first half of the year, but what will drive loan demand in the second half?

Goldman Sachs, the card’s issuer, has rolled out a new program in which it will provide personalized advice to consumers with marred credit profiles in hopes of making them customers down the road.

The agency wants more timely information on the banks it supervises; investors filed a criminal complaint against Ernst & Young, calling their work “a disaster” for failing to expose the scandal.

Some observers said the central bank should have suspended dividends entirely in response to an unprecedented economic emergency caused by the pandemic. Others said its more cautious moves were appropriate because big banks' capital is strong and the economy could bounce back.

Now perhaps more than ever, banks and their proxies need to show tact when communicating with past-due borrowers.

Top executives from Citigroup and Goldman Sachs offered warnings Wednesday about why the U.S. economy may be slow to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic.

The companies said the "meaningful impacts" of the coronavirus pandemic led them to terminate the $2.7 billion deal.

Upstart, which specializes in the use of alternative data and AI in credit decisions, will make car loans directly and sell its technology to banks and other lenders.

Consumer spending has improved as state lockdown orders are lifted but many continue to hold off on taking trips and entertainment activities.

Consumers are parking their funds at financial institutions as lending slows and interest rates remain near zero, making it difficult for credit unions to deploy these deposits.

After drawing industry opposition, legislation that would have added broad new borrower protections during the pandemic failed to advance out of the state Assembly.

Loan forbearances are wreaking havoc with firms that normally clean up during recessions; the Fed’s latest rescue plan is off to a rocky start as few banks show interest in making the loans.

Other challenger banks focused on personal loans have struggled since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus’ economic fallout has drawn more attention to buy-now-pay-later options, leading to fresh creativity in business models and marketing.

Shelter-in-place orders have given homeowners the time to pursue upgrades and repairs, and banks are seizing the opportunity to help finance the projects.