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Consumer credit directly impacts the lending environment, and a recent report from CreditForecast.com reveals that American borrowers are on the rebound.

In Michigan, Main Street Bank is expanding its mortgage banking operations. The financial institutions recently announced the opening of a new mortgage office in downtown Rochester.

More Americans feel confident about their household finances, the housing recovery, and the prospect of an economic upturn, Fannie Mae said Wednesday. The mortgage giant drew on poll data from some 1,000 respondents to sketch a blend of guardedness and hopefulness in a National Housing Report. Thirty-five percent of Americans now believe the economy is on the right track, an increase from 19 percent in November, compared with 57 percent who still feel damp about the state of recovery. Fewer respondents fielded layoff concerns.

In signs that a stable housing rebound may still be ways off, mortgage applications contracted by 1.2 percent last week, even while the Home Affordable Refinance Program offered a still-steady buttress for refinance activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association found in a weekly survey that mortgage application volume also declined by 10.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Purchase Index went up by a seasonally adjusted 2.1 percent from last week, while it climbed by 14.7 percent on a seasonally unadjusted basis.

Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative has started 2012 on an optimistic note. The company recently announced that it achieved a new high for origination volume last year, giving Lenders One a record breaking end to 2011.

Provident Bank has appointed a new consumer markets leader for its northern and central regions, with the announcement that Colleen Sousa will join the financial institution.

A steady pace for home prices and sales signals housing recovery, but a disorderly default by any of the euro zone states overseas could choke affordability according to Capital Economics analysts.

Platinum Data Solutions has named a new CEO, announcing that industry veteran Phil Huff will join the company following the retirement of the company's founder, Rocky Donathan, who was the previous CEO.

Lower unemployment figures and higher GDP growth continue to help stabilize home prices amid a still-steady recovery, Fitch Ratings said Monday. The ratings agency found in a report that home prices may plunge 9.1 percent nationally but that the figures remain below estimates of 13.1 percent from the fourth quarter. Fitch said that declines may contract by around 6 percent in lieu of inflation and benefit from improvements in macro-economic indicators, such as unemployment and GDP growth. The report said that still-anemic mortgage volume remains a problem.

The bank failure tally for 2012 rose Friday as state regulators shuttered a bank in Georgia, emboldening the state's reputation as a graveyard for community banks in recent years. The Georgia Department of Banking and Finance turned off the lights for Doraville-based Global Commerce Bank, which went under with about $143.7 million in total assets and $116.8 million in total deposits. Neighboring Metro City Bank entered into a purchase-and-assumption transaction with the FDIC, scooping up $79 million in assets and leaving the rest to the agency for disposition.