Banking Industry

When I heard last week that banks want to forgive up to 40% of some customers' credit card debt, my first question was, "What's the catch?" "There's no catch," answered Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group that helped concoct the debt-relief program.

The slumping market for commercial real estate -- viewed by many as the next big shoe to drop on the economy -- now threatens to drag down regional banks as they struggle to collect on loans made against shopping centers and office buildings.

How can you tell whether your bank is in hot water? ¶ More people have been asking that question since the collapse of Pasadena mortgage giant IndyMac Bank in July.

You've got to love the banking industry. As our friends in the financial sector were passing the hat among taxpayers last week for $700 billion in bailouts to cover their crappy mortgage investments, they were simultaneously condemning the House of Representatives' passage of a "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights," which aims to crack down on some of the industry's more troublesome practices.

Bank of America said Tuesday that it was issuing credit cards to Spanish-speaking immigrants who may not have Social Security numbers, triggering complaints that the nation's largest retail bank is tacitly endorsing illegal immigration.

The results of the Federal Reserve's "stress tests" on 19 of the country's largest banks were among Washington's worst-kept secrets, with abundant leaks about the multibillion-dollar capital shortages at Bank of America and other giants.