The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a proposed rule that will allow credit products to return to debit cards.

I have suspected that the credit issue was far from resolved. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) issued a directive last fall that forced MetaBank to pull its i-advance product. I-advance was a short-term credit product offered to customers that attached a regular direct deposit to their debit cards. The costs were (more…)

Two financial titans have set their sights on more unsecured high cost consumer finance loans.

CitiFinancial NC and American General (a subsidiary of AIG) control about two-thirds of small dollar loans in North Carolina. Since the state passed a law against payday lending a few years back, lenders have been prohibited from charging more than 36 percent. This had the effect of moving payday out of the state. It did not end the practice of making unsecured high cost loans.

CitiFinancial, AIG, and Fortress (a New York hedge fund) are set to ratchet those the cost of those loans skyward. House (more…)

While regulators have stopped a debit card program that came with a credit option, they are yet to issue any kind of guidance about the larger issue of credit itself.

We know that the Office of Thrift Supervision forced MetaBank to pull back its i-advance card. The OTS acted last fall after consumer groups decried its payday (more…)

What is the best option for a consumer seeking an unsecured loan?

Peer-to-peer lending bubbled up in 2006 at Prosper, during the innovation-friendly go-go years. The basic idea is to crowdsource debt. Regular folks search (more…)

Debit Card for Prisoners Gaining Interest: Continental Prisons Systems (CPSZ) share prices doubled on Thursday. On Friday, it moved another 34 percent.  Continental Prison has a kiosk and a card that enable prisoners to transfer funds. The cards save prisons a lot of money and help to avoid the issues that come with writing checks to convicts.  For the prisoners, it is a tradeoff: they can support family and friends on the outside, they can walk out with a card and (more…)