community banks

Peer-to-peer lending site Prosper.com has stopped letting high-risk borrowers use its site because too many of them failed to repay their loans. The site's problem, says columnist and one-time lender Alex Salkever, is that Prosper got in the way of letting a social bond form between microborrower and microlender.

Everyone knows that if you want to save money, banks are a great place to sock it away. But if you're not saving enough these days, you might want to look at how you're using your bank and what your banking habits are costing you. After all, you can save money simply by reducing your banking...

Free checking is getting harder to come by at some of the nation's biggest banks. Recent regulatory changes have forced banks to be more upfront about the fees they charge deposit and credit card customers; as a result, consumers are better able to avoid those fees, which has led to a loss of...

Lacking the big budgets for television ads and billboards, community banks often aren't as flashy as their larger peers, but they are generally just as safe. Nevertheless, community banks are often overlooked by consumers, many of who fear a community bank won't have the resources to fulfill all of...

Between now and 2014, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures threatens to swamp the nation's already weak financial system. The Congressional Oversight Panel warned this week that the potential defaults could push thousands of smaller banks into failure.

Big national banks get the attention, but it turns out that small banks are more interested in snapping up failed former rivals than their larger competitors. Some 46% of small banks say they're keen on bidding for failed banks' assets, compared with just 36% of large banks.

As part of an effort to redirect TARP funds from Wall Street to Main Street, the Treasury Department Wednesday announced a program that will help local financial institutions get more loans out to people and businesses in the communities hardest hit by the recession.

President Obama's budget plan for 2011 includes about $100 billion in spending to address unemployment and economic weakness. Obama will also seek a bipartisan commission to focus on reducing the national debt in the long run.

The chain grocery store where my wife and I shop has a bank in it. There's the frozen food section, the bakery section, the pharmacy and ... the bank. It's not even a particularly large grocery store, but there it is. A bank. With a vault, a sit-down area and everything. I'm not sure how common...

Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, Illinois.Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, Oregon.Sherman County Bank, Loup City, Nebraska.Columbia Community Bank, Hillsboro, Oregon.The names of small community banks either closed by the FDIC, or struggling, reads on like a somber trip down the memories of a...