Ally, Synchrony, Discover, Sallie Mae and Navient are the other lenders the ratings firm downgraded, citing the impact that the coronavirus crisis is having on their revenues and profits.
Discover and Sallie Mae are the latest to report a surge in forbearance requests as households struggle with job loss and other hardships resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The company best known for student lending expanded into personal lending less than two years ago. Now it says it is refocusing on core strategic priorities.
Ally and other direct banks continue to report strong deposit growth even as they slash the rates they pay to depositors. The trend suggests that the online-only approach has more staying power than its detractors believed.
The nation's largest private student lender plans to curtail its use of forbearance, a move that could well save some borrowers money but could also result in more defaults.
In a move to tap into an underserved market opportunity — but with the potential for political backlash — Sallie Mae launched three different cash-back reward credit cards aimed at college students and young adults.
The CEOs of Sallie Mae and Discover Financial Services were largely dismissive this week of the threat posed by the two Democratic presidential candidates, though their optimism seemed to be rooted in an assumption that the more sweeping proposals will never become law.
