Consumer lending

Banks are increasingly tightening lending standards for commercial real estate loans and are likewise seeing a drop-off in demand, according to a report released Monday by the Federal Reserve Board.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a mixed decision on the reach of the main federal housing-discrimination law, telling a lower court to reconsider whether Miami can sue banks for lending practices the city said contributed to urban blight.

Housing prices in the Near West Side, Logan Square and a handful of other popular areas north of downtown are now well above their pre-crash peaks, but most of the city and the suburbs are still clawing their way back from the depths of the devastating crash.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered an auto loan servicer on Wednesday to pay $2.4 million for failing to live up to the terms of a 2015 consent order.

Caliber Home Loans' next nonprime mortgage securitization is nearly twice as large as its previous deal, completed in December.

Lawmakers from both political parties are increasingly interested in forcing lenders that offer loans to upgrade home heating and cooling systems to issue better disclosures, a prospect that has some in the industry nervous.

The hand-wringing over business lending has overshadowed the fact that consumer lending — particularly for regional banks — has become a strong and steady engine of growth.

Bank of America's year-over-year loan growth was slow, but parts of its commercial and U.S. consumer businesses were strong, prompting optimism from the CEO in the face of lackluster numbers across banking so far this earnings season.

The Birmingham, Ala., company's profit climbed 8% as higher market interest rates and investment securities balances offset lower average loan balances.

The Columbus, Ga., company also announced late Monday that it is buying the credit card assets and brokered deposits of the retailer Cabela's and will then sell the card portfolio to Capital One.

The Loan Syndications and Trading Association is appealing directly to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to exempt collateralized loan obligation managers from rules requiring "skin in the game" of deals.

Speaking at a town hall event in Washington, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said that post-crisis regulations have made mortgages too costly for consumers — and made homeownership unattainable for borrowers with low incomes or blemished credit histories.

New research from the New York Fed confirms a lingering worry for the banking industry: More prime-age, college-educated borrowers are delaying the decision to take out their first mortgage as they focus instead on paying off their student loans.

Deutsche Bank is finding that there just isn't enough soured U.S. mortgage debt anymore.

Wells Fargo engaged in an "extensive and pervasive pattern" of discriminatory and illegal lending practices for years, the OCC said in slashing a key rating of how the bank serves communities.

Loans originated in the fourth quarter of 2016 carried less credit risk, according to the latest Housing Credit Index from CoreLogic.

Experian and Finicity have released a product that aims to speed up decisions on mortgage applications, using financial data aggregation technology.

Bankers and housing advocates say many low-income housing projects simply won't get built if the White House and Congress move to eliminate two federal block grant programs.

A $165 million cash settlement has been reached in a class-action lawsuit that alleged investors were misled about the safety of mortgage-backed securities comprised of loans originated by now-defunct subprime lender NovaStar Mortgage Inc.

Republicans repeatedly claim that the Dodd-Frank Act has hurt consumers by raising costs and hampering credit availability. But the data doesn't back that up.