Lending

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is now requiring lenders to ensure that homebuyers can actually pay their mortgage before lending them the money.

The fight to increase the current 12.25% member business lending cap has been a long and arduous one.

It seems likely that 2013 will contain two distinct aspects for credit union mortgage programs. On the one hand, it seems certain that credit unions will continue to take a greater share of the overall mortgage market.

Washington was embroiled in a game of fiscal chicken at the end of the year. Unemployment is high at 7.7%. The 2.5 million people who are unemployed but so discouraged that theyre not actively looking are unchanged from 2011.

Student loan debt remains a stress-inducing burden for many college students, recent grads and their families.

Retirement plans and paying off the mortgage have traditionally gone hand-in-hand as people approaching retirement anticipate eliminating a payment that typically claims the largest single chunk out of the monthly budget.