Nonbank

Kabbage is one of many nonbank lenders looking to partner with traditional financial institutions. But the firm is facing a tough sell with bankers who worry about the risks associated with ceding control of the loan-underwriting process.

Consumer advocacy groups are urging regulators to take a closer look at how alternative lenders are using the stockpiles of personal information they collect.

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.

Bankers need to show they are in control of relationships with outside vendors, must be ready to respond to M&A-related protests and should be as concerned about economic growth as interest rates, according to the St. Louis Fed's supervisory chief.

Credible, a comparison shopping site for private student loans, announced that it has raised $10 million from a group of investors that includes some big names in marketplace lending.

Cloud Lending Solutions, a technology provider to marketplace lenders and other finance companies, announced that it has raised $8 million in venture funding.

CircleBack Lending, a Boca Raton, Fla., marketplace lender, has completed a $17.4 million round of equity financing.

A small Internet-focused bank plans to offer Prosper Marketplace's personal loans directly to its own customers through the bank's website. Prosper could use it as a template for deals with other banks.

The rising costs to service mortgages reflects a market where there are not only downsides to being too small, but hurdles to being too large — raising the question of whether there's a middle ground where servicers are not too big, not too small, but just right.

The marketplace lender CommonBond announced that it has raised $35 million, which it plans to use to expand its operations across the country.

Prestige Financial Services, which focuses on car buyers who are in the bankruptcy process, is trying to keep pace in a fast-growing market.

The San Francisco company hopes to lower its costs by driving out human intervention as much as possible. To get there, it has made the counterintuitive decision to locate its operations staff in one of the country’s most expensive cities.

Marketplace lenders seek to disrupt traditional financial services with online platforms that connect borrowers to investors. But in real estate, this burgeoning sector has taken an approach that seeks to coexist with, rather than supplant, the traditional mortgage market.

The U.S. auto lending industry continues its multiyear boom. What follows is a look at numerous metrics that reflect the red-hot state of the market.

Nothing touches off an argument more than questions about whether the CFPB will allow any marketing services agreements to continue. Some mortgage lenders say no and are winding down their agreements, others insist regulators can be satisfied, and still others are just plain confused.

Tech investors love fast-growing marketplace lenders like Social Finance, but Wall Street has taken a dimmer view of them. A huge equity fundraising round should allow SoFi to keep fueling rapid growth while remaining privately owned.

Banks have ramped up foreclosure activity in the past five months, with default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions at their highest levels in two years. It's a positive sign that banks are finally clearing out all the distressed loans still lingering from the housing crisis. Meanwhile, banks remain cautious about new lending, partly because of regulatory actions.

The Chicago-based online consumer lender, which focuses on borrowers with less than pristine credit histories, is getting a boost from JPMorgan Chase, Credit Suisse and Jefferies.

In 1979, mortgage bankers worried that they could be undercut by "sleeping giants" like Merrill Lynch, Sears Roebuck and what was then called Master Charge.

C2FO, the operator of an online marketplace for small-business financing, announced a $40 million equity funding round led by a Singapore investment firm.