IN BRIEF

Consultants get time to meet bond requirement

The Mortgage Lending Division decided to give home mortgage modification and foreclosure consultants an additional 30 days to comply with the requirement for a $75,000 surety bond, spokeswoman Elisabeth Daniels said Wednesday.

The division's first 30-day extension ends today. The second one will end on Nov. 2, because the 30th day of the extension is a Saturday.

Mortgage modification companies and foreclosure consultants that do business without bonds after Nov. 2 will be subject to fines. The division may ask the attorney general's office to order the firms to stop violating the law with a cease-and-desist order.

Bank of America chief tells board he'll resign

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ken Lewis, his credibility battered by his handling of the Merrill Lynch & Co. takeover, plans to step down at year's end.

No successor was named to replace Lewis, who will also retire as a director, according to a Wednesday statement from Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender by assets and deposits. The resignation ends Lewis's 40-year career at the Charlotte, N.C.-based company, including the last eight as CEO.

DETROIT

As Penske deal dies, GM to shutter Saturn

General Motors Co. said Wednesday it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM on Wednesday to acquire the brand.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in a statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out.

NEW YORK

Banks raising ATM fees for noncustomers

Can't find an automated teller machine from your bank nearby? Keep walking -- or pay higher fees.

An annual survey released Wednesday by Bankrate.com found the average ATM fee for noncustomers rose 12.6 percent this year to $2.22.

You'll likely get dinged by your own bank, too. The average fee banks charge customers for using another bank's ATM is $1.32. That fee, however, dropped from $1.46 in 2008, as some banks reduced or waived it.

About 72 percent of banks now charge customers a fee for using an ATM from a different bank, according to the Bankrate survey.

Penn takes look at Fontainebleau

Penn National Gaming Inc. may seek to finish the bankrupt Fontainebleau, a 63-story casino resort about 70 percent complete on the Strip.

"Clearly we're looking at it, we're looking at lots of properties in Las Vegas," William Clifford, Penn's chief financial officer, said Wednesday at a Deutsche Bank AG conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. "Obviously Fontainebleau is actionable right now, so it's clearly higher up on the priority list than other opportunities in Las Vegas."