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Personal finance

Medical privacy rules get an update
Those medical privacy rules you run into at hospitals, pharmacies and in your own doctor's office are getting an update. Regulations unveiled this ...
HSBC to pay $249M to settle foreclosure-abuse case
British bank HSBC will pay $249 million to settle federal complaints that its U.S. division wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who should have been ...
Lessons learned, BofA makes a new mortgage push
Bank of America wants a bigger slice of the mortgage market. This time, the bank is being more careful about how to get it. On Thursday, the bank ...
Taxpayers will ease banks' costs in mortgage deal
Consumer advocates have complained that U.S. mortgage lenders are getting off easy in a deal to settle charges that they wrongfully foreclosed on many ...
Dartmouth College ending Advanced Placement credit
High school students hoping to earn college credits through Advanced Placement exams soon will be out of luck at Dartmouth College, which has ...
Fewer US homes repossessed by banks in 2012
Lenders took possession of fewer U.S. homes in 2012 than a year earlier, as the pace of new homes entering the path to foreclosure slowed and banks ...
Feds finalize protections for mortgage borrowers
The government's consumer lending watchdog finalized new rules Thursday aimed at protecting homeowners from shoddy service and unexpected fees charged ...
Business CEOs call for raising retirement age
An influential group of business CEOs is pushing a plan to gradually increase the full retirement age to 70 for both Social Security and Medicare and ...
Goldman Sachs' net surges on investment banking
Goldman Sachs went some way to restoring its reputation as a Wall Street powerhouse after its earnings almost tripled in the fourth quarter, handily ...
ER visits tied to energy drinks double since 2007
The young man stumbled into the emergency room late one night after a house party, saying his heart wouldn't stop pounding and he could barely breathe ...
Charities worry new tax law will reduce donations
Charities and nonprofit organizations are worried that new limits on tax deductions for high earners will hurt donations just as charitable giving is ...
Goldman, Morgan Stanley pay $557M in mortgage case
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will pay a combined $557 million to settle federal complaints that they wrongfully foreclosed on homeowners who ...
US homebuilder confidence steady near 7-year high
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders held steady in January at the highest level in nearly seven years, but builders are feeling slightly less ...
Correction: Transgender Health Insurance story
In a story Jan. 11 about health coverage for transgender people, The Associated Press misidentified the company that Kathy Born speaks for. Born is ...
Obama agrees to use DC 'taxation' license plates
President Barack Obama's limousine will soon carry the District of Columbia's "Taxation Without Representation" license plate, a subtle, but some say ...
Bling is the thing at Detroit auto show
Headlights, grilles and other doodads are stepping up and popping out on cars. Car bling is proliferating, from daytime running lights that go up the ...
Banks say new agency's oversight is slow, costly
Bankers and financial industry leaders are criticizing the early efforts of the government's new consumer finance watchdog, saying a slow and ...
Hot cars at the Detroit auto show
The North American International Auto Show begins this week in Detroit with media and industry previews. It opens to the public Jan. 19. Here are some ...
Study: Parental support sends down college GPA
Parents who are footing more of the college tuition bill for their children give them a better chance of graduating. But a surprising new study finds ...
Cost-cut talk is long on emotion, short on details
In the heated talk about deep spending cuts that will dominate Congress in the coming weeks, one thing is likely to be in short supply: details.
Review: Personal finance industry gets drubbing
"Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry" (Portfolio/Penguin), by Helaine Olen After the financial crisis began in ...
China mulls hiking investment quota for foreigners
China's securities watchdog is considering substantially raising the quota that foreign institutions are allowed to invest in the country's stock ...
Gas prices surge 7 cents after months of decline
After months of dropping, gas prices are back on the upswing. The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has surged seven cents in the last three ...
Can Europe's markets climb through the slump?
The big worry a year ago was that Greece would collapse under its debts, upend Europe's markets and set off a global financial crisis. But the world's ...
With almonds' rising revenues, land values soar
Bill Enns, a central California real estate agent specializing in farmland, fields dozens of calls every week from potential buyers. Many want almond, ...