Payments

Max Levchin, CEO of the buy now/pay later lender, said recent tests show young adults prefer interacting with intelligent chatbots over phone-based agents, but the company doesn't foresee major cost savings from generative AI for a few more years.

Net charge-offs at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank increased by more than 80% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. BofA executives say that the rising losses were in line with the bank's risk appetite.

The blockbuster merger proposal will be reviewed at a time when the Biden administration is expressing skepticism about consolidation. Its analysis will have to account for markets dominated by both big banks and the likes of Visa and Mastercard.

Payments fraud is the most expensive kind, at $450B; anti-financial-crime execs are the most worried about real-time payments, a survey from Nasdaq and Oliver Wyman found.

Too few lenders are underwriting unsecured consumer debt, which could help borrowers pay down credit card balances with little risk to lenders.

As U.S. credit card balances continue to march above $1 trillion, the number of newly delinquent credit card users now exceeds the pre-pandemic average and millennials and those with student or auto loans are driving the increase in past-due payments, the New York Fed said.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, late payments on credit cards have surpassed their pre-pandemic levels, according to a new VantageScore report. The consumers showing signs of deterioration include not only subprime borrowers, but also those with prime credit scores.

The servicer said it entered into the consent order "without admitting any wrongdoing, to avoid the expense and distraction of litigation."

Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending has largely stalled after surging at the start of the year. Delinquency rates, meanwhile, are ticking up. 

The list of 57 early adopters includes large banks like BNY Mellon, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, as well as large bank technology companies including Jack Henry, FIS and Fiserv.

Rising interest rates on loans, greater borrowing and higher fees on deposit accounts all contributed to the increase. "Altogether, this paints a picture of debt that could really start to strain the checkbooks of American families," said Meghan Greene, a researcher at the nonprofit organization that authored the report.

In its ongoing quest to diversify beyond bank account data-aggregation, Plaid aims to help fintechs and banks to block fraud by sharing data about stolen consumer identities via a fee-based consortium called Beacon.

The bank is working with The Clearing House and real estate tech company EMTransfer and is hoping to cut paper and time from the process of selling property.

Balances reached nearly $1 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up 17% from a year earlier. The increase reflects higher spending by well-off consumers on travel and entertainment, as well as the pressure that lower-income households are facing from inflation and higher interest rates.

The related rewards are targeted to both new homebuyers and existing mortgage servicing clients.

The industry is taking lessons from instant point-of-sale lenders to help homeowners embarking on major projects.

Synthetic-ID scammers can use the same techniques they honed for stealing from banks to target consumers facing economic hardships.

Rocket Rewards is the latest marketing initiative from the mortgage giant following the introduction of home equity loans and a monthly payment reduction offer earlier this year.

The total value of transactions flowing through Early Warning Service's peer-to-peer payments service rose nearly 30% during the second quarter, as more consumers used Zelle to pay recurring expenses.

American Banker interviewed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief about his views on Big Tech, the qualified mortgage rule, real-time payments apps and more.