Stearns Bank in Saint Cloud is working with the on-demand payment technology firm Reset to launch an earned-wage card for blue collar and immigrant families struggling with access to money.
Community Financial Development Institutions' mission-driven lending has traditionally been a small segment of the lending market. That's beginning to change, but plugging into secondary lending markets might not be the kind of change communities need.
Executives also say funding pressures have begun to ease, though high interest rates and deposit costs remain a leading worry, according to new surveys.
Regulation, credit quality and AI-fueled fraud are among the big concerns for banks and payment companies.
Part of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mandate is to educate consumers by providing reliable information. With its credit card late fee "report" and the associated rulemaking, it has failed to live up to that responsibility.