Economy

Hardship marked the end of the year for some of the biggest payments companies, and 2015 will bring even more challenges from rapidly changing technology and nimble startups.

At a hearing Tuesday, GOP lawmakers hammered FHFA Director Mel Watt for four hours over his recent decisions to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy loans with lower downpayments and provide money to two affordable housing trust funds.

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

Western Union is adopting a vastly different use of Apple Pay than what banks and merchants have so far considered.

Peer-to-peer and institution-to-small business loan marketplace Funding Circle launched a new fractional loan marketplace today, the San Francisco company announced.

The Federal Reserve System threw its weight behind a host of standards, goals and timelines yesterday that are likely to shape the quest to build a faster U.S. payment system.

Amazon.com's decision to quietly shut down its digital wallet app last week shows an uncharacteristic caution on the part of the e-commerce giant. Merchants throughout the Web use the company's e-commerce services, but the mobile and digital payments world is considerably more cutthroat.

The Supreme Court gave borrowers the path to file a rescission notice without going to court, but experts expect more banks to initiate legal proceedings to stop rescissions they see as frivolous.

If consumers, designers and artists led the discussion about how we make payments in the future, they would likely come out with a vastly different system than the one technologists are creating today.

A plan to tax the liabilities of systemically important banks could help curb risk to the financial system, but the president and Congress should first consider more realistic asset thresholds.

Like General Motors extending credit to car dealers, Google will use Lending Club to finance resellers, service providers, and consultants in its supply chain while putting to work a portion of the tech giant's cash war chest.

Even in an alternative universe that exists only in cyberspace, real money is vital to the economy. Digital payments company Skrill hopes to bridge the real and virtual worlds to benefit its digital wallet.

California's Department of Business Oversight said Friday that it will drop its effort to suspend Ocwen Loan Servicing's mortgage license in California. The Atlanta servicer had failed for more than a year to provide its California regulator with requested information

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Early signs point to a wave of Federal Housing Administration borrowers trying to tap into lower prices for mortgage backing.

The focus on raising the $50 billion-asset threshold determining which banks face the toughest provisions is highlighting interest in letting more community banks enjoy exemptions written into the law.

Starbucks, which handles 16% of its in-store sales as mobile payments, is looking to push that number even higher. Its evolving strategy combines its mobile app, its gift card and its rewards program into a powerful package.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles reported an increase in fourth-quarter profit, the second full quarter after its April acquisition of CapitalSource Bank, a commercial lender that targeted small and medium-sized businesses.