Credit

High interest rates and tough economic conditions played a role in the credit woes that overcame BayFirst Financial's small-dollar lending effort.

A FICO survey shows 33% think exaggerating income on credit applications is acceptable. Ironically, many also prioritize strong fraud prevention from banks.

As high interest rates make refinancing impossible for many homeowners, increasing numbers of them are turning to HELOCs and home equity loans for cash.

Bill Pulte, regulator and conservator of entities that buy and securitize many mortgages, also reaffirmed he's 'not happy with" lenders' main score provider.

Although credit bureaus have collected this data for three years, it's only now being factored into assessments of consumer creditworthiness.

The deal was divided into multiple debt pieces rated by Kroll Bond Rating Agency as well as a riskier first-loss piece.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., has filed a Congressional Review Act resolution to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's rule barring medical debt from credit reports.

Affirm partners with Sixth Street to sell its buy now/pay later loans to the investment firm; Associated Banc-Corp promotes Steven Zandpour to deputy head of consumer and business banking; Visa Direct speeds up its money transfers; and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said the FICO credit-scoring model has drawbacks in price, predictiveness and market competition, and stakeholders should develop a more open-sourced model that uses artificial intelligence.

Prophecies about a wave of bank failures caused by sickly CRE loans haven't yet come true. But there are still plenty of caution signs in a saga that will take years to play out.