banks

Five big banks punished for illegal lending practices.

Federal and state authorities have reached an agreement with big banks on abusive foreclosure practices. What does this mean for states like Maryland?

As states close in a settlement with big banks over alleged abusive home foreclosure practices, we break down how much each family will really get.

New York and California will join just about all the other states in a settlement with the nation's largest banks aimed at helping homeowners struggling with loans bigger than the value of their homes, according to a person familiar with the talks.

An Obama administration lending program set up to funnel cash to small banks was expected to cost taxpayers $1.3 billion.

Instead, it will turn a profit of $80 million.

Banks use various methods to calculate average bank balances, which figure in whether consumers get charged a checking account fee.

But all of those methods keep consumers in the dark.

When Congress bailed out big banks, it also limited the pay of CEOs at those banks -- one of the main reasons why banks wanted out of the bailout program.

The number of bank failures in 2011 fell from the previous year, but banks are far from being out of the woods just yet.

While some banks are being encourage to lend more, pressure is also coming from regulators to crack down on riskier customers.

In Greece, tax collectors are on strike to protest benefit cuts while in Italy, the government was able to borrow $9 billion to help pay for services, but banks willing to lend also demanded a high return.