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Joey Pizzolato is a reporter at American Banker, covering all things payments, including stablecoins, agentic AI, buy now, pay later and earned wage access. He is based in New York.

Prior to reporting on payments, Joey spent nearly six years covering auto finance as the editor of Auto Finance News, and has also covered the mortgage and housing industry, bank technology and marketing, state and federal regulation, fraud and the asset-backed securities market. 

His work has earned him two Azbee Awards: One for investigative journalism examining the ease at which bad actors can obtain fraudulent employment verification needed to finance automobiles on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram; and one for enterprise news reporting that examined the lasting effects of inflation and COVID-19 pandemic on the subprime auto finance industry. In 2023, he was named a Goldschmidt FRED Fellow by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. 

Joey holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing at Spalding University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePaul University. 

Email Joey at joey.pizzolato@americanbanker.com. Reach him on Signal at @joeypizzolato.25

Appraisal appeal rules announced by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA set to go into effect in three weeks, will now be required starting on Oct. 31.

The reverse mortgage lender is closer to profitability and plans to maintain its New York Stock Exchange listing status, executives said in an earnings call.

One California insurer received an approved rate change for 56.4%, an increase affecting over 17,000 borrowers.

Rule changes would come after a fraud investigation uncovered falsified numbers at a leading finance firm, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Falling rates provided a boost for the refinance market, with activity hitting a two-year peak, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Borrowers are reacting to more media coverage of wider windstorm activity and events like a Tri-State earthquake, experts said.

The lender says it's reached an "agreement in principle" to end a consumer class action complaint over its wide-ranging January hack.

Gary Quinzel, vice president of portfolio consulting at Wealth Enhancement Group, gives his views about monetary policy and offers his opinion on the FOMC statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference.

Tunua Thrash-Ntuk is president and CEO of The Center by Lendistry, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the racial wealth gap by anchoring small businesses and the communities where they do business.