The financial news that actually matters
The biggest boating and marine-supply retailer in the country is shutting a large share of its stores after an effort to sell the business off the auction block failed to attract a single qualified buyer. West Marine, which sells everything from safety gear and fishing tackle to electronics and boat maintenance supplies, confirmed it will…
The Federal Trade Commission has begun sending a fresh wave of refunds to people who paid the personal-finance app Brigit for cash advances that regulators say were far less “instant” than advertised. According to the agency, more than a million payments are going out in this round, drawn from an $18 million settlement the company…
Two men behind a sprawling investment scheme now know how many years they will spend in federal prison. On July 9, 2026, a federal court in Nebraska sentenced Neil Suresh Chandran and Bryan Lee for a fraud that pulled more than $45 million from over 10,000 investors between 2018 and 2022. Older Americans are among…
A Canadian film financier whose executive-producer credits appear on some of Hollywood’s best-known recent titles has been indicted this week on federal fraud charges, accused of running a Ponzi scheme that took in more than $100 million from investors. Jason Cloth, 60, of Beverly Hills, faces seven counts of wire fraud in a case unsealed…
A job left years ago can leave behind more than an old résumé line. A pension or 401(k) may still be tied to the former employer, and changes in company names, administrators, addresses, or ownership can make the plan difficult to locate. The Labor Department now operates a federal search tool designed to reconnect workers…
The age at which a widow or widower starts Social Security survivor benefits can permanently affect the monthly amount. The range is wide enough that a rushed claim after a death may shape household income for years. Survivor benefits also interact with a person’s own retirement or disability benefit, work income, family eligibility, and a…
A full-screen warning can make a frozen computer look like a financial emergency. The phone number in the warning is the trap: calling it connects the user to an impostor who may seek remote control, bank credentials, or an immediate payment. The safest first move is to stop interacting with the message. A genuine security…
People who have already lost money to fraud often receive a second message promising to get it back. The offer may sound informed because the caller knows the earlier scam, the amount lost, or personal details, but an upfront payment turns the promised rescue into another extraction attempt. The safest response is to stop the…
Repeated collection calls can turn an unpaid bill into a daily source of fear. Federal rules limit both the pressure tactics a collector may use and the frequency of telephone calls about a particular debt. Those limits do not erase a valid debt, but they give consumers room to verify the account, challenge errors, and…
A date printed on a plastic gift card can look like a deadline for the money itself. Federal rules separate the life of the card from the life of the underlying funds and require a long minimum window for spending the balance. That protection can preserve money that would otherwise be forgotten in a drawer,…