Consumer lending

The mortgage delinquency rate dipped to a 12-year low, but overvalued housing markets and eventual reversal in the unemployment rate present risk for future delinquencies, according to CoreLogic.

Mortgage delinquencies inched up, in part from natural disasters hindering homeowner performance, but a stronger economy is still keeping defaults low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Despite recriminations about how the crisis and ensuing regulations have tightened loan access, an actual assessment of mortgage credit availability finds the situation is more complicated.

A new credit score that includes consumers' cash flow alongside their credit score is winning praise for its potential to help expand access to credit, but some worry it gives the credit bureaus even more data that could be compromised.

In a move designed to improve access to financial products for consumers with low credit scores and short credit histories, Experian, FICO and Finicity are developing an "UltraFICO" score that lets individuals share checking and savings account data and help lenders better assess risk.

The senior Democratic lawmaker said the CFPB chief and the Trump administration "are doing everything in their power to roll back consumer protections."

After a run-up in the latter half of last year, delinquencies on mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac look fairly stable for the time being.

A new financial technology company called Scratch is planning to use a new web-based platform along with an alternative pricing model to compete with companies that service mortgages and other consumer loans.

Commercial mortgage-backed securities delinquency rates are likely to continue to decrease for the rest of the year, as new issuances outpace maturing loans and precrisis loans continued to get resolved by special servicers, Fitch Ratings said.

A decade after the credit crisis, investors are returning to where it all began. The mortgage sector, blamed in large part for the near-collapse of the global financial system, is now seen by many as a high-quality market forged by fire.