Raising your credit score
In this era of tight credit, credit scores are king, and lenders have gotten pickier. A score of 720 used to be considered prime. Now, many lenders prefer 750 or...
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Consumers find it harder to get, keep credit
5 tips on maintaining credit 1. Don't run up bigger balances on your credit cards than you have in the past. 2. Keep outstanding balances below 50 percent of your...
Shoppers buy up Obama designer’s wares
They waited outside in the bitter cold for the doors to open Thursday morning to snag a piece of Obama chic. Some were longtime fans of Maria Pinto's sensual, embellished...
Final 3 pitches for Cubs
And then there were three. The sale of the Chicago Cubs has come down to three finalists, nearly two years after the team's owner, Tribune Co., put the storied franchise...
Hyundai: Lose job, bring the car back
Worried about losing your job? Well, no need to fret about making your car payment -- at least not if you buy a new Hyundai. Get laid off within a...
Palm Beach jewels land on Gold Coast
Palm Beach's pain may be Chicago's gain. As residents of the elite Florida enclave tally their losses from the $50 billion fraud run by Wall Street legend Bernard Madoff, some...
So how do you say it?
His last name is spelled with a "G," but it's usually pronounced "Jenson." That's how judges address Ed Genson, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attorney. That's what high-profile clients like R. Kelly...
Jobs vanish–quickly
Chicagoan Dave Truex made a nice living scouring the Midwest for commercial real estate deals on behalf of a Wall Street investment firm. The 25-year-old college grad rented a spiffy...
Season’s gleamings
The value of your stocks and bonds is dwindling. Your home is worth less than it was two years ago. Maybe it's time to diversify into a new asset class:...
A see-no-decline mentality
Heidi Henning is in denial, and she knows it. Since her third-quarter 401(k) statement arrived recently, it has been sitting on her desk at home. She has heard horror stories...