Demographics

The RushCard debacle should lead to consumer improvements, but it should not undercut the progress prepaid has made in helping consumers manage their finances.

Several large banks have already embraced standards released Tuesday by a consumer advocacy group laying out how institutions can offer safe, entry-level financial services.

New York’s attorney general called on more than 90 banks including units of Toronto-Dominion Bank and HSBC Holdings to revamp customer screening procedures to give poor people better access to financial services.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray issued a public rebuke of RushCard on Friday, warning that it must rapidly fix technical glitches that have left customers locked out of their accounts.

Regulatory action is needed to weed out patently unfair fee structures, but as an industry we should and can do better on our own.

Springleaf's proposed acquisition of Citi's OneMain Holdings is being delayed by the Justice Department, which appears focused on preserving competition at the local level — even as a raft of new subprime installment lenders are popping up on the Web.

The bureau's proposed standards would drive lenders out of short-term, small-dollar lending, just as the OCC's 2013 rules did. This time, however, there will be few, if any, regulated institutions left to fill the void.

Westamerica Bancorp. will close its branch in Upper Lake, Calif., after a failed effort to find another financial institution to take over the branch.

Borrowers are faced with two terrible choices: take out another exploitative loan because of the shortfall created by the first, or face a range of catastrophic consequences associated with defaulting.

Avant, an online lending platform that focuses on borrowers with marred credit, announced an agreement Wednesday to raise $325 million in equity financing from blue-chip investors.

A recap of the informed opinions (and the discussions they generated) on BankThink this week, including how postal banking could help low-income people in the U.S. and the continuing debate over interchange fees.

American banks long ago deserted their most impoverished communities. Today, post offices are uniquely well positioned to serve the underbanked population — and perhaps reinvigorate a culture of saving in the process.

Contrary to the CFPB’s paternalistic claims, most payday loan borrowers are aware that it may take them more than two weeks to repay the credit they take out.

As part of American Banker's series on the C-Suite, chief information officers, chief technology officers and others serving in similar roles at banks shared their insights into how the industry is being affected by technology, where they wish they could spend more time and what it takes to be a driving force in their institutions.

Families that use state-issued EBT cards often face ATM fees that eat away at their already-meager incomes. Banks should waive those fees in order to ensure that all public assistance dollars go toward household needs.

Prepaid cards appeal to a growing percentage of the population like millennials and other 21st century consumers who want to manage their money without being tied down to bank locations.

It's been nearly a century since reformers and lenders agreed on 36% as a small-dollar loan ceiling. Inflation has since swelled production costs, and lending under this cap is no longer profitable. The result: fewer options for consumers.

Corporate strategy is taking up more of a CIO's day than ever, survey respondents say.

Driven by greater demands to help meet business goals, these CIOs share some of the tactics that have helped them win friends and allies in other departments and move big projects forward.

Security and online and mobile banking rose to the top of bank CIOs' priority lists this year, according to a proprietary survey by American Banker and SourceMedia Research.