Borrowing

U.S. consumers swiped their credit cards more often in March and took out more loans to attend school, driving overall borrowing up by the most in more than a decade. Total consumer borrowing rose $21.4 billion in March, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That's the seventh straight monthly increase and the largest since November 2001.

By PALLAVI GOGOI, AP Business Writer Since the credit crisis of 2008, everyone has been waiting for the banks to start lending money again. It's finally happening, but there's a catch: Businesses are afraid to spend it. Bank loans to businesses grew 10% last year after dropping 19% in 2009 and 9%...

Google's ex-CIO has moved from the world of Web searches to the world of high-interest, short-term lending. He says ZestCash.com offers an innovative way to help the poorest borrowers avoid financial emergencies. But is this just a slick veneer putting a shine on the classic payday lending business?

Two-year-old Pawngo bills itself as a more upscale pawnshop for the digital age, catering to a new breed of pawn customer -- not desperate, just temporarily cash-strapped. The company wants to dispel the stereotype of sketchy storefronts dealing in fenced goods -- and so far, it has had a fair amount of success.

If you need cash and have investments you don't want to sell, a stock-based loan may sound like a good idea. But the unregulated stock-based loan industry can be a risky way to tap into the value of your portfolio, warns the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Acquiring the money to get a dream off the ground is rarely easy, but it can be done ... if you're creative: Here's how some young short filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival raised funds for their projects. Their methods might inspire you the next time you need to pull together big bucks to fulfill a dream.

A new report from the Center for Responsible Lending paints a seriously depressing picture of the damage the payday loan industry wreaks on its customers. What's worse is that the report actually understates the grim reality facing payday borrowers today.

Heading to the car lot to pick out a new ride can be a lot of fun. Talking to the auto lender, however, can feel a bit like a hostage negotiation. After all, you're trying to get the best car you can get for the best price, while the dealer simply wants to make as much money off you as...

You get what you pay for, or so the saying goes. But consumer advocates have long bemoaned that the opposite is true in the world of mortgages. Consumers choose between getting their loans through a mortgage broker, who can shop around with lots of lenders, or directly from the lenders themselves....

The number of federally insured banks at risk of failing rose to 884 -- nearly 12% -- in the last quarter of 2010, reaching the highest level in 18 years.