Links in “Banks”

Financial abuse of the elderly is big business: $2.6 billion annually. Here are some steps to protect them. [9/21/15]

Garnering over 600,000 complaints nationwide since it’s launch in 2011 the CFPB Consumer Complaint Database shines a spotlight into emerging areas of concern. Even if there haven’t been any complaints filed against your specific financial institution, Ken Agle, AdvisX President, can show us how to use this snapshot’s information to your advantage. [9/18/15]

U.S. law enforcement scores a couple of high profile wins in the war against cybercriminals, including one who was involved in the Heartland attacks that resulted in the theft of 160 million credit card numbers. Meanwhile, the hacking beat goes on. [9/18/15]

An industry group representative tells Congress that exponential growth of regulatory burdens is contributing to fewer charters of community banks, which fund 55% of all small-business loans. The good news is that there are many readily available legislative solutions pending. [9/18/15]

The Justice Department has been cracking down on banks for defective FHA loans. Wells Fargo just announced it is raising minimum credit scores on FHA loans, which will mean fewer loans that are "close to the most accommodative end of the credit spectrum." [9/18/15]

Survey finds that 43% of the time, the perpetrators of the data breach are internal actors. Of those, about half were intentional, and the other half accidental. Oops. [9/17/15]

ICBA applauds district court decision to grant class-action status to the case against Target, allowing banks with affected customers to seek compensation for costs due to the breach, which forced banks to reissue more than 11.5 million debit and credit cards. At the same time, the group calls for better cybersecurity laws. [9/17/15]

A survey of commercial banks finds 20% shunning cloud computing, with the rest in at least some stage of embrace. Where is your institution in this continuum? [9/17/15]

The new TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosures has boxes for the license numbers of the buyer's and seller's real estate agents, plus the settlement service provider. Could that data be used to track the interactions between those three to look for clues about payment-for-referral deals? [9/16/15]

Wells Fargo has rolled out a plan to originate $125 billion in loans to Hispanic borrowers over the next decade through $10 million in financial education and counseling, increasing the number of Hispanic lenders, developing products and services to meet the needs of Hispanic borrowers, and working with the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. [9/16/15]