Personal Finance

Bells and Whistleblowers: The Ethics Commission Majors in Ironic Studies

Occupy Still Really Mad at Wells Fargo, Plans to Announce New Campaign Today

It's been a while since we've heard any rumblings from Occupy and disgruntled homeowners in general. But that's not to say they haven't been actively pissed-off. In fact, the group has been working up a new campaign, behind the scenes, which they plan to launch today. This morning, homeowners/Occu ... More >>

Student Loans: The Government's Arbitrary Collections System

List of Restaurants Implicated in Health Insurance Fraud Crackdown Released

On Friday, City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent letters to several dozen businesses under investigation for consumer fraud for pocketing surcharge funds meant to go toward employee health insurance. Yesterday the Chronicle released the list of the businesses who received letters from Herrera, including ... More >>

UC College Girls Tap Sugar Daddies for Tuition

UC college chicks don't need daddy to pay for school and all those four-year parties anymore, but what they do need are their sugar daddies. A new study shows that an increasing number of female students from UC Berkeley and UC Davis are tapping sugar daddies for college tuition -- and they have hi ... More >>

Few Homeowners Have Requested Independent Foreclosure Reviews

By now, it's old news that many people lost or nearly lost their home because of banks' errors during the foreclosure crisis. A 2010 ProPublica analysis, for example, found that around a quarter of loan modification rejections occurred because the mortgage service provider couldn't find certain docu ... More >>

For-Profit Colleges: Predators in the Ivory Tower

Were You Ripped Off by a Payday Loan Company? Go Get Your Refund at City Hall

Well, this is odd. The City Attorney's Office is having some trouble getting consumers to come down to City Hall and claim their free money.So now we're publicizing it: If you've been ripped off by payday loans, here's your opportunity to get some of your hard-earned cash back. Today, City Attorney ... More >>

Selfish Mortgage Scammers Slammed With $4 Million Fine

Here's yet another reason SoCal doesn't give us a warm and fuzzy feeling. Attorney General Harris announced yesterday that folks who were busted operating a national loan modification scam down in south have been ordered to pay a $4 million bill for their crime. Two million dollars of this is suppos ... More >>

Here's What the State's Historic Foreclosure Protection Bill Means to Homeowners

One of the worst parts of going through a foreclosure is the sense of helplessness. There's a lot of waiting and hoping and let-me-transfer-you-over run-arounds. The process feels closed and distant, marked by indifferent operators and vague brief loan modification denial letters. Yesterday the Cal ... More >>

The Dispossessed: Geary Brown Dodges Eviction

In a feature story last month, "The Dispossessed," we wrote about a Bayview homeowner named Geary Brown who was on the verge of getting evicted.He had been foreclosed on after he missed several mortgage payments while seeking to modify his loan.Bank of America, which owned his mortgage, had put his ... More >>

S.F. Student Accuses Bank of "Double-Dipping" Late Fees

It's bad enough having to pay student loan late fees -- but imagine having to pay them twice. That's just what a Bay Area student says happened to her when the bank charged her two times for student-loan late fees. Tina Ubaldi is suing Sallie Mae and its affiliates, claiming unfair business prac ... More >>

Shawn Williams, Former City Employee, Accused of Stealing Personal Information

​A former Human Services Agency employee appeared in court Tuesday afternoon where she pleaded not guilty to multiple charges claiming she stole Social Security and other confidential information from more than 3,000 Medi-Cal applicants. Prosecutors say, starting in 2006, Shawn Williams, who was a ... More >>

Former Hells Angels President Sentenced to Jail for Pot-Growing Mortgage Scheme

​Raymond Foakes, a former Hells Angel, was sentenced yesterday to 70 months in state prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme.U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup also ordered Foakes, 48, to pay $1,085,000 in restitution. On Oct. 25, 2011, Foakes, the former president ... More >>

Overheard in S.F.: Various Discussions Happening in the Occupy Camp

Tonight: See Great Local Bands, Help Indie Mart Founder Kelly Malone Battle Cancer

Kelly Malone​It would be easy enough to say, "Oh, yeah, the Sandwitches, Royal Baths, Art Museums, Carletta Sue Kay, and Social Studies are playing a gig tonight, you should go." But this is even easier, because tonight's show at the Independent is a benefit to help someone of great importance ... More >>

One Woman's Guide to Cheap S.F. Health Clinics

TurboTax Insists Users Have Middle Name -- Or You Can't E-File

​Relax! While April 15 is, traditionally, known as Tax Day, you have until Monday to get this thing done. (This, conveniently, will provide one more answer to the query "why is this night different from all other nights?").But if you're hoping to e-file -- and you have no middle name -- you may be ... More >>

NCAA, UC, Sued By College Football Players

City College could have plenty of Favres in the making ​A San Francisco football player is suing the NCAA, Cal State, and the University of California, claiming they are keeping him and other junior college athletes from playing Division I sports. Reginald Davis, a full-time student at City Colle ... More >>

Gavin Newsom: Friend or Foe of Illegal Immigrant Youth?

Friend of students, foe of alleged felons.​Update: Newsom's spokesman responds. Read below.  Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has come out today supporting a group he threw the book at during his time as San Francisco mayor: illegal immigrant youth. Newsom has sent a letter to Assemblyman Gil ... More >>

Government lets fraudulent drug companies deal with Medicare

Advanta Investors, Promised 11 Percent Profit, Will Lose Up To 36 Percent

There's one born every minute...​An investment offer advertised in the San Francisco Chronicle by the bank Advanta promised 11 percent annual interest at a time when savings accounts typically offered less than 2 percent. As we noted in an article and blog post shortly thereafter, the offer was to ... More >>

S.F. Legislators Approve $400K Gift to Insurers. Will Governor?

It's unanimous: let's screw San Francisco​In a year when San Francisco faces a $787 million budget shortfall, how do our representatives in Sacramento propose to help out? By unanimously supporting a measure transferring $400,000 annually in health care expenses from insurers to local San Francis ... More >>

Bayview Man Claims Chase Bank Trashed His Loan Modification Agreement

​Robert Davis was profiled on the radio as a success story -- a Bayview resident facing foreclosure who beat the odds and secured a home loan modification from Chase. In March, it looked like his story had a happy ending: Chase approved him for a permanent loan modification that allowed him to kee ... More >>

Why Are There Still Health Care 'Surcharges' on Restaurant Tabs?

​I was at dinner with friends at Little Star last weekend, and we were splitting the check. "Looks like the health care surcharge here is 50 cents a person," said one of them, fingering the bill, and suddenly my mood flashed from cheese-stuffed and content to angry. It's been almost three years s ... More >>

Pelosi Endorses Kamala Harris in Attorney General Race

Kamala Harris​House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her support behind San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris in the California Attorney General's race today, the latest in a string of prominent endorsements for the Democratic front-runner.The announcement comes on the heels of new polling that ... More >>

Michael Lewis profiles the nervy investors who made a fortune from the financial crisis

No Justice

Despite Obama's promises of change, corporate crooks are still going unpunished for their roles in the financial collapse.

Stimulus Wreckage

Despite having been accused of deceptive business practices by the attorney general, former students, and ex-employees, Corinthian Colleges are getting millions in federal stimulus dollars.

U.C. Berkeley Alumni Data Is Breached ... Again.

Social Security Number ... robble robble​Where's the security, U.C. Berkeley? For the second time in four months, I'm being told by my alma mater that a hacker may have access to my birth date and social security number. I had to read about the first security breach in the Chronicle. Overseas hack ... More >>

State Bar Takes Over 'Son of Super Swindler' Law Firm -- 2,000 Con Jobs Too Late

The State Bar of California has taken over the law firm of Mitchell Roth, who had, in partnership with convicted felon Paul Noe II, convinced more than 2,000 troubled homeowners to fall for an apparent "foreclosure assistance" scam.The apparent swindle, fist described in the September, 2008 SF Weekl ... More >>

Press Democrat Gives Misleading Solace to Area Bank Depositers

Prop. C never defines 'moral turpitude'

How to Make Student Loans Your Bitch- By Laser-Guided Awesome, The SF Weekly Utility Blog

Golden Gate Skateparks and Venezuelan Wage-Fixing — It's SFGovernmentInAction!!!

Burnt Chefs

Former admissions representatives at CCA say they preyed on students’ dreams of becoming celebrity chefs and glossed over the painful economic realities of the industry

Requiem for a Pension Fund?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launches an attack on CalPERS. The giant pension fund's Democratic allies aren't taking it lying down

Rebuilding Credit

San Francisco's Providian Financial was once the most despised company in the credit card industry. Now, after a humbling fall, it just wants to be loved.

Best No-Frills Restaurant

Yokoso Nippon

Night Crawler

All the Wammies That Was!

SF Weekly Wammies 2000

Your choices of the top local bands

Thrift and Consequences

How a supervisor with just $42,500 in income services $1 million in mortgages

School of Hard Knocks

State laws regulating vocational schools have been gutted. Disadvantaged students are paying the price.

Indecent Disclosure

Willie Brown plays hide-and-seek with his tax returns

Jamba Liar

One of California's best Cajun chefs goes on the lam after a Bay Area con game is busted

Dog Bites

$hort Circuit

The downside of electronic fund transfers

A Message to Our Customers

Dog Bites