Consumer lending

Banks and other lenders revived special-purpose credit programs after racial-equity protests in 2020 prompted them to reexamine their services for historically underserved groups. Now they're taking those initiatives nationwide.

Foreclosure starts also increased by over 19% between October and November but remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Benefits under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act were applied to fewer than 10% of auto loans for active-duty reserve members, the agency found. It urged financial institutions to ease the process for accessing the law's interest rate protections.

In an appeals court filing, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wrote that a federal judge "ignored regulatory text, history and context" when she ruled against a PNC customer. The consumer argues that the bank shouldn't have pulled funds from his checking account after he was tardy in making payments on his home equity line of credit.

President Biden announced that his administration would extend the pandemic-era pause in student loan repayments through June 30 amid legal challenges to his college debt-forgiveness plan.

But the likelihood of a recession and higher unemployment should drive the rate higher in the future, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

A Wisconsin taxpayers group asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block President Biden's student-loan relief plan from taking effect, accusing him of usurping the power of Congress and costing taxpayers potentially more than $1 trillion.

The online lender approved Black applicants at lower rates than non-Hispanic whites, according to a law firm that monitors its artificial intelligence models. Upstart said it's an industry leader in fair lending but acknowledged room for improvement, calling disparities "an industry-wide challenge."

Roughly 16% of home loan borrowers likely have education debt, less than one-third of those may be distressed, Mr. Cooper executives told investors at a conference this week.