Banking is based on two fundamentally irreconcilable functions: safekeeping of deposits and relending of deposits. Safekeeping is meant to be a risk-free function, but using deposits to fund loans inevitably poses risk to deposits, thereby undermining the safekeeping function. The expensive,...

This United States Supreme Court amicus curiae brief was filed in the joint cases of Bank of America v. Caulkett and Bank of America v. Toledo-Cardona, which pose the question of whether a wholly underwater second-lien mortgage may be lien-stripped in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. A previous Supreme...

“Rent-a-bank” arrangements are the vehicle of choice for subprime lenders seeking to avoid state usury, licensure, and other consumer protection laws. In a rent-a-bank arrangement, a non-bank lender contracts with a bank to make loans per its specifications and then buys the loans from the...