ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATION | |
edition: January 14, 2025 | |
How Wells Fargo aims to boost trust among underbanked
The bank has been focused on providing services that are “in language and in culture” to foster trust and transparency, said Michael Martino, head of Wells’ inclusion initiative.
As part of its banking inclusion initiative, Wells Fargo will soon add financial coaches and offer free workshops within certain branches in Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Those additions are part of the lender’s goal to have 50 HOPE Inside centers providing free financial education services within certain branches by the end of 2026, said Michael Martino, the head of diverse customer segments for consumer and small-business banking at San Francisco-based Wells.
The centers, offered through Wells’ partnership with financial empowerment nonprofit Operation HOPE, are already in more than 20 cities including Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle, as well as midsize markets like Anchorage, Alaska, and smaller ones like Gallup, New Mexico.
Read more at BANKINGDIVE.COM
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Watch this short video to learn more:
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IRS announces Jan. 27 start to 2025 tax filing season
Jose L. Santiago
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Tax Outreach, Partnership and Education
Email: jose.l.santiago@irs.gov
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Top 100 Banks and Credit Unions Using Social Media in 2025
The Financial Brand‘s "Power 100" database breaks down the social media stats of retail banks and credit unions in the English-speaking world. Every calendar quarter, The Financial Brand collects data from roughly 2,000 different banks and credit unions on Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram.
Parameters in this social media database include the most Facebook likes, new Facebook likes, the most X followers, new X followers, post sent, X accounts followed, most YouTube video views, new YouTube views, YouTube subscribers, most Instagram followers, new Instagram followers, Instagram posts, and new Instagram posts.
There is also a singular ranking based on the cumulative size of an institution’s social media community and their overall activity in social media channels that The Financial Brand calls the "Power 100" score.
Read more at The Financial Brand
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New protections for payday and installment loans take effect March 30: CFPB
Starting March 30, 2025, payday and installment lenders must begin complying with important new requirements when they try to collect money from borrowers’ accounts.
The CFPB issued a regulation in 2017 adopting a two-strikes-and-you’re-out rule for covered lenders. Under that rule, after two tries to withdraw money from a borrower’s account have failed, covered lenders can’t try again unless the borrower specifically authorizes another attempt. The rule addresses lenders’ unfair and abusive practice of repeatedly trying to withdraw money from an account to pay off the loan, even after the account had been shown to be empty. That practice can trigger a pile of additional fees for the borrower while it rarely benefits lenders.
The regulation was originally set to take effect in 2019 but was delayed by litigation brought to block the rule. The court of appeals hearing the case ultimately rejected the payday lenders’ claims, affirmed the rule, and upheld the CFPB’s finding that the prohibited practice was unfair. More recently, it rejected the payday lenders’ efforts to further delay the rule and confirmed that the rule will finally take effect March 30, as the CFPB previously announced.
Read more at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
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Protecting you from unlawful debt collection at work: CFPB
Dealing with debt collection can be a source of significant stress for many people trying to navigate an already challenging financial landscape. Unscrupulous companies may use aggressive tactics to collect debts, including contacting people in the workplace, which can be illegal. This can threaten your employment or put pressure on you to pay debts even if you don’t actually owe them.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) continues to crack down on companies that harass consumers, including by unlawfully contacting their employers. In 2014, the CFPB with the states of North Carolina and Virginia got millions of dollars of relief from a debt collector that illegally contacted the commanding officers of members of the military to pressure them to pay. In 2018, the CFPB ordered a debt collector to pay a $5 million penalty for unfair practices that included contacting consumers at work even after being told they were not allowed to do so and disclosing information to employers about peoples’ alleged debts.
CFPB examiners recently found that one or more companies unfairly called peoples’ references and places of employment after people asked them to stop or abusively included language in their loan applications that suggested people had consented to workplace calls that were actually illegal.
Read more at Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
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New year brings Canadian crackdown on high-interest loans
Pitched in the 2023 federal budget as a crackdown on 'predatory lenders,' critics say the actual effect would be to boost business for illegal predatory lenders
In a little-noticed move that industry groups say could drive Canadians into the arms of black market loan sharks, Ottawa has made it a criminal offence to offer loans at any interest rate higher than 35 per cent per year.
The federal government has also capped payday loan fees at $14 for every $100 borrowed.
Although pitched by the Trudeau government as a crackdown on “predatory lenders,” the credit counselling agency Credit Canada warned in a Jan. 2 statement that the actual effect would be to boost business for illegal predatory lenders.
Read more at NATIONAL POST
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Agencies Issue Statement on Elder Financial Exploitation: FDIC
Five federal financial regulatory agencies, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and state financial regulators issued a statement (PDF) today to provide supervised institutions with examples of risk management and other practices that may be effective in combatting elder financial exploitation.
Older adults who experience financial exploitation can lose their life savings and financial security and face other harm. A FinCEN financial trend analysis of Bank Secrecy Act reports over a one-year period ending in June 2023 found that about $27 billion in reported suspicious activity was linked to elder financial exploitation.
Banks, credit unions, and other supervised institutions play an important role in combatting elder financial exploitation and supporting their customers who experience these crimes. The statement provides examples of risk management and other practices that supervised institutions may use to help identify, prevent, and respond to elder financial exploitation, including but not limited to:
Read more at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
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Beyond Buy Now, Pay Later: How Citi is Reinventing Point of Sale Lending
Citi executive Terry O'Neil explains how the bank is integrating payment solutions across physical and digital channels while maintaining security and trust, as consumers increasingly demand flexible payment options at point of sale.
As embedded financial products and flexible payment solutions reshape consumers’ interactions with banking services, financial institutions must evolve their strategies to meet changing customer expectations.
On a recent episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, host Jim Marous spoke with Terry O’Neil, head of connected commerce for Citi Retail Services and head of strategic partnerships for Citi U.S. Personal Banking, about how the convergence of traditional banking capabilities with modern digital experiences is creating new opportunities.
Q: What trends are driving changes in consumer payment preferences?
Read more at The Financial Brand
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