SoFi launches an experimental new, community-based student lending program that provides students with lower cost loans and school alumni with a unique investment opportunity.

From pesky hidden fees to the status of Dodd-Frank financial reform, from the impact of Europe's debt crisis to lending -- we look back at the year in banking.

Between July to September of this year, bank credit lending was up 10 percent -- the highest rate since before the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.