Personal Finance

Countdown to the 2007 Houston Press Best of Houston® Issue

The Curious Incident of the Dog on the Internet, Part Two

Silver Lining Huh?

Freddie Mac Helps Out Bankers (And A Couple Of Home Owners)

College Credit

Shopping spree for your first apartment: $2,500
Spring break in Cabo: $1,000
Avoiding college credit card debt: priceless

Be Thou Fishers Of Men, Or Scammers Of Government

There's no scam like a religious scam. And there's no religious scam like one where the church involved has a really churchy name, like Fishers of Men. And that's what we have (allegedly) in Houston -- the US Attorney's office has indicted the heads of Fishers of Men for skimming millions in fa ... More >>

Art of the Mortgage

MFA's one-of-a-kind home loan program

Lil' Stevie's Year in Review

MFA's one-of-a-kind home loan program

Easy Money

Is a state rep taking Houston's poor for a ride on the law of the lend?

Best Place to Get Impressive Art Cheap

Glassell School of Art Fund-raiser and Auction

Mortgage Papers and Foreclosure

It's easy for a homeowner's payments to fall through the cracks.

Marilyn Logan

“The Money Lady” reads from I Can’t Afford to Marry You

College Immaterial for High School Students in Vocational Training

Good paying jobs, no huge loan burdens, exciting course work — the new vo-tech attracts more and more hi-tech students

South Pacific

Summer never sounded so sweet

In the Sub-Prime of Life

Homeowners complain that Litton Loan is quicker to foreclose than it needs to be

Jet Stream

Chris Cester on Jet's new CD, Shine On

Letters to the Editor

Chris Cester on Jet's new CD, Shine On

Costly Advances

Payday lenders take care of you till your check comes in, and for a long time after

Eaten Alive

Rent-to-own stores, pawnshops, payday lenders -- it's hope for sale, with interest

Fun with Guns

Have a blast at the Lone Star Shoot

Living in a House of Cards

Rank-and-file employees suspected something was wrong at Enron. Now they want someone to pay.

The Bust of Kenny Boy

Plus: Powers to Be, Japanic's Surrender

Placed in the Discard Pile

About to be booted from the Fourth Ward, poor people are being told they are too poor to qualify for public housing in Houston

Dastardly Plan To Make Poor Put Money Into Banks Apparently Working

The Bank on Houston program, founded by City Controller Annise Parker in conjunction with area banks, credit unions and nonprofit organizations, says it's boasted early success. In three months 10,264 new accounts were opened; the goal for the entire first year was 10,000.People putting their money ... More >>

ID Theft

Someone gets your social, ruins your credit, upends your life. And gets away free and clear.

Amegy Bank, Very Concerned About The Health Of Its Employees

A ghoulish lawsuit filed against Amegy Bank just got a little, uh, ghoulisher. In February, the Chron brought us the story of Irma Johnson, who sued Amegy after finding out the bank took out a life insurance policy on her ill husband, a bank employee, in 2001. After brain surgery to partia ... More >>

Is the Honor System Dead?

Photos by Robb WalshDriving back from vacation, I noticed a honey stand along the highway in the town of Shirley, Arkansas with a sign that said "Self-Service." I pulled over and took a look. There was sorghum, local honey, bee pollen, beeswax and honey candy for sale. You took whatever you wanted a ... More >>

Cover Me

Kathern Cathey thought she had an insurance policy that would save her life. Not exactly.

Moratorium Is Over, So Foreclosures Spike Locally

Photo by Paul KnightHarris County is seeing the result of failed government efforts to fix the housing crisis by issuing 90-day moratoriums on foreclosures.July was the worst month for foreclosures in the county since the savings and loan debacle, just 73 properties short of the record month -- Octo ... More >>

Missing the Mexican

Did we underestimate the popularity of Gustavo Arellano's column?

Houston Woman A Star (Unfortunately) In The New Michael Moore Movie

​Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, expectedly serves up a quick and dirty glimpse at the consequences of unfettered corporate corruption and exploitation. But the most disturbing story of corporate greed in the film, unfortunately, comes right from our own backyard.Houston widow ... More >>

No Justice

We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

Two Pastors And A Deacon Admit That Their Church Was One Hell Of A Scam

​Some blog items never die.Almost a year ago we wrote about the fraud charges filed against officials of the Fishers of Men Worship Center in Houston. To this day, barely a week goes by without someone throwing up another comment on the case, either defending the officials or saying they got what ... More >>

As A Big Student-Loan Deadline Looms, Be Sure You're Using The Right Web Site

​Do you enjoy wasting hours when you're trying to meet a tight deadline to get federal aid for a college loan? Just log on to www.fafsa.com, and sign up for an ID, then spend hours getting material to answer all their questions. Ignore the many times an ad pops up, trying to sell you "professional ... More >>

Fishers of Men: Pastor And Associates Get Prison Time For Fraud

Go thou and defraudeth FEMA....​It was almost two years ago that we wrote about the Fishers of Men scandal, a church in southwest Houston whose pastor and associates were charged with various financial shenanigans.It sparked a comment war between defenders and accusers that lasted so long and got ... More >>

Lack Of Social Safety Net Tying Many Musicians To Day Jobs

"I fantasize sometimes that my musical career would hit gold and help us escape these grim realities, but it's not something I really expect to happen." ​There are few issues in the current political climate more fraught with contention than whether or not the U.S. government will take a more ... More >>

Christopher Purser: Indicted for Huge Fake-Insurance Scheme

Insurance fraud for a tour boat that sank and killed 20​A Houston man is one of six people indicted for selling bogus insurance policies, including one to a tour boat that sunk and killed 20 people in a New York lake in 2005. Christopher Purser, 49, was one of the people who sold an insurance ... More >>

Betting Their Lives

It's easy for a three-time felon to get $20 million for his investment company, as long as no one asks any questions.

Howard Judah and Greg Jablonski: If They Are Scam Artists, They're Pretty Bad Ones

​Say your insurance agent or financial adviser asks you to invest $25,000 on a sure thing with a "guaranteed" rate of return, with a company you never heard of. Do you cut a check right then and there, without asking a single question? Well, that appears to be what nearly 300 folks in Tex ... More >>

Texas Publishes Their Social Security Numbers, Now Someone's Trying to Scam Them

Just give 'em John Doe's number, he won't mind.​Attorney General Greg Abbott is warning any Texans whose Social Security numbers were inadvertently exposed by the state government to, ummm, not just hand out that info to anyone calling to try to "confirm" things. More than three million emplo ... More >>

Space Tourists Can't Sue: And Take a Look at Their Insurance Policy

Using any of these will void the policy.​With NASA getting out of the shuttle business, the next big thing is expected to be space tourism. It can be a dangerous thing, but luckily there is the Texas Legislature to make sure, as they always do, that no one can sue a company for pretty much an ... More >>

For Friday the 13th: Five of the Unluckiest Texans Ever

Investors held on too long.​Beginning with LaSalle, the French explorer who survived shipwrecks and cannibal Karankawa Indian attacks only to perish at the hands of his own men near Navasota, some people in Texas have had some pretty damned hard luck. You might lay some or all of the blame at ... More >>

Payday Lending: Texas Takes Teeny, Tiny Step to (Barely) Regulate

Gary Elkins: State Rep, payday lender.​Payday lending, where lower-income, lesser-educated, financially strapped people get some instant cash but sometimes end up paying 500 percent interest, is an industry ripe for some regulating, you would think. But that's why you're not a member of the T ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Your City Bureaucracy at Work

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Thieves Suck: How to Protect Yourself When Your Stuff Is Stolen

​Sunday evening while I was out for a jog, my car was broken into and my purse was stolen. By some miracle of paranoia, I happened to have both my cell phone and wallet with me on the run, not for fear of them getting jacked, but because I'm always worried I might get lost, or need my ID if I ... More >>

Christian Lopez, Overtaxed Yankee Fan, The Sequel (Where He Becomes A Charity)

Christian Lopez: Now sponsored by the champagne of bottled beers​That's it, you win, Christian Lopez. I give up. You all remember, Christian Lopez, right? (It's only been like 24 hours since I last wrote about him. Please tell me you remember.) Just in case, Lopez was the ample Yankee fan wh ... More >>

Bank of America Debit Card Fee Hike Just the Beginning

​In case you hadn't heard, Bank of America announced that, beginning in 2012, it was going to begin charging $5 per month for account holders who used their debit cards for retail transactions. The move is in response to the federal government via the Dodd-Frank bank reform law putting a cap o ... More >>

Pasadena, Home to Some Sickos, Is Also a Nifty Place to Retire

Retire to this in Pasadena.​The economy blows, especially for old folks, who aren't as able to kick it with an umbrella drink at some beachside hang like in the old days. No worries, according to Tom Corley, author of The Top 100 Cheapest Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2012. Instead of sink ... More >>

Abraham Moses Fisch: Made A Million Convincing Defendants He Could Bribe Their Cases Away, Feds Say

He knows people​Houston criminal defense attorney Abraham Moses Fisch is facing a slew of federal charges this morning: conspiracy, obstruction of justice, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and failure to file tax returns, They all stem from what the U.S. Attorney's Off ... More >>

Money-Hungry MLB: Author Says the League is Treating Some Retirees Like Garbage

David Clyde: $10k richer but still no MLB retirement benefits for the Houstonian​Specific Major League Baseball retirees are getting the shaft, according to the author of the controversial A Bitter Cup of Coffee: How MLB and the Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve. The crux of Dou ... More >>