Payments

The CEOs of the credit card lenders Discover and Synchrony are urging Congress to come through with another round of government stimulus so that struggling households can continue paying their bills.

Despite declining payment rates and increased economic pains on borrowers, prime credit-card and retail account issuers have been able to maneuver around COVID-19 stresses with little impact on servicing their accounts held in securitized portfolios.

The race to provide coronavirus relief for small businesses is opening new routes to fund payments, including underused credit lines.

Since March, issuers have tightened their criteria for opening new accounts and closed millions of existing ones in hopes of avoiding waves of defaults.

Credit inquiries for auto lending, revolving credit cards and mortgages fell sharply in March as unemployment surged, according to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report.

Discover and Sallie Mae are the latest to report a surge in forbearance requests as households struggle with job loss and other hardships resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.

Discover is the latest card lender to say it's reining in credit lines as the coronavirus pandemic leaves millions of Americans jobless and struggling to keep up on loans.

The lender behind the credit cards for Gap, J.C. Penney and other retailers took a large provision for loan losses and abandoned full-year earnings guidance as the nationwide shutdowns tied to the coronavirus pandemic have led to a sharp decline in spending on its cards.

Five Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee sent a letter to Director Kathy Kraninger calling the agency's response to COVID-19 “tepid and ineffectual at best.”

The agency has relaxed some reporting requirements and joined other regulators in encouraging banks to help borrowers, but pressure is building on the bureau to do more to aid consumers suffering financial hardship.