Customers

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.

It's 15 minutes before the start of a pressure-packed Southern Section Division 1 baseball first-round playoff game. Some players are feeling a little nauseated as the reality of what's at stake begins to sink in. Not Jake Bauers of Huntington Beach Marina. He's smiling at the crowd and tipping his cap, and is seemingly oblivious to how important the game is. He steps to the plate in the first inning against Norco, and on the second pitch, he blasts a fastball so far over the right-field fence at Marina that it might land on the 405 Freeway a couple of miles away.

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

Palmela G 7922 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (323) 951-0033 or (888) 849-3550 http://www.palmelag.com / Ginger's Island 23322 Madero Road Ste. A, Mission Viejo, California 92691 Phone(877) 462-1186 http://gingersisland.com Merilee's Swimwear 790 S Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (866) 970-SWIM http://MerrileeSwimwear.com

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

Security researchers Nick DePetrillo and Don Bailey have discovered a seven-digit numerical code that can unlock all kinds of secrets about you. It's your phone number. Using relatively simple techniques, this duo can use your cellphone number to figure out your name, where you live and work, where you travel and when you sleep. They could even listen to your voice messages and personal phone calls — if they wanted to. "It's really interesting to watch a phone number turn into a person's life," DePetrillo said.

With more than 4 million people visiting Yosemite National Park last year ? and that number expected to increase this year ? it's no wonder lodging inside the park is snatched up quickly. "We typically sell out during the summer season," Delaware North Cos. spokeswoman Lisa Cesaro said of its Yosemite accommodations (Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls, Curry Village and the housekeeping camp on the Merced River; the Wawona Hotel, and in the back country, Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, White Wolf Lodge and the High Sierra camps)

After days of silence during which long-held resentment toward Abercrombie & Fitch Co. began to boil over, Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries tried to stem a backlash against the teen-focused retailer. Jeffries, in a statement Thursday, discussed criticism that the company lacks women's XL and XXL sizes in favor of catering toward young, good-looking customers. "A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers," he said in the statement.

T-Mobile introduced its new no-contract Simple Choice Plan this week, with Chief Executive John Legere boldly telling users that if the service is not good, they can drop it after one month of trying it. The new plan includes unlimited talk and text and half a gigabyte of high-speed Internet data for $50 a month. Users can choose to pay an additional $10 for a total of 2.5 GB of high-speed data or $20 for unlimited high-speed usage. Adding a second line costs $30, and each line after that costs $10. Although T-Mobile says there are no contracts, users must either provide a T-Mobile-compatible smartphone or buy one from the company.

Car dealers have found a new way to profit from people with money trouble: leasing them hand-me-down vehicles. The deals are pitched to customers as the cheapest way to drive a used car off the lot, with the added benefit of an easy escape for those who can't keep up with the payments. Few customers are told about the advantages on the other side of the trade. Leases can allow dealerships to sidestep interest rate caps, and there are fewer financial disclosures rules than with a conventional car loan.

Palmela Green sits amid hundreds of fabric rolls in her West L.A. swimsuit shop, surrounded by pink and red sequins, animal prints, knits and faux furs. A photo of one of her recent projects, a swimsuit in a Lexus ad, is proudly displayed on a wall. Green, who works by appointment, is one of only a few designers - the pool also includes Lissa Walker and Merrilee Madrigal, who are both based in Orange County - in the area who create custom swimwear. Green's customers pick a fabric and then choose one of her styles or order a one-of-a-kind pattern.

It's long been a basic tenet of the business world: You give us more business, we'll reward your loyalty with better deals. That's how cable companies operate with their service packages. That's how phone companies work. And until now, that's pretty much how banks played things as well. Want to avoid checking-account fees? Maintain a higher balance or, better yet, take out a home loan. As of this month, however, about 2 million erstwhile Bank of America mortgage customers are scrambling to figure out their status after the bank sold servicing rights to their accounts to a company called Nationstar Mortgage.

Almost 21 million residential customers of Southern California Gas Co. will see their monthly bills increase by about 5%, or $1.94, now that state utility regulators have approved a four-year plan to guarantee revenue collected by the nation's largest natural gas distribution network. The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday granted the unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy a rate increase totaling $1.95 billion for 2012 through 2015. The amount is $84.83 million more than current revenue but $154 million less than the company asked for at the start of a lengthy legal proceeding, the commission said.

On occasion, my wife and I have taken out-of-town visitors on Sunday outings to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles to expose the uninitiated to the joy of a live gospel choir. I sometimes wonder how I stand with that power greater than myself while intruding on a house of worship solely to observe a spectacle. But we're always received so warmly that I quickly lose myself in the music and forget where I am. In that state, I've paid little notice to hats and shoes and dresses.

During the car-crazy 1950s in Southern California, Dean Jeffries was one of the first hot rodders to chop, channel and soup-up automobiles. His distinctive paint jobs and sculpted body work attracted many admirers to his auto shop, including the likes of James Dean, Steve McQueen and A.J. Foyt. A legendary car painter and customizer who made the "Monkeemobile" and the original Green Hornet's "Black Beauty," Jeffries died in his sleep Saturday at his home in Hollywood. He was 80 and had been in declining health.

President Obama recently groused that no U.S. airport ranked among the world's top 25 airports. If you're a regular traveler to Los Angeles, you may be even more disappointed to learn that Los Angeles International Airport didn't even make the top 100. Obama was referring to a ranking released in April - the Skytrax World Airport Awards - that is based on a survey of 12.1 million travelers around the world. Out of 395 airports worldwide, LAX ranked 109th overall and 24th among 50 airports in North America.

Portrait studios at Sears and some Wal-Mart stores - the scenes of innumerable family photos - have unexpectedly closed as their operator, CPI Corp., goes out of business. The portrait provider said in a statement on its website that all of its U.S. locations have shut down “after many years of providing family portrait photography.” The St. Louis company has been making photo keepsakes for more than 60 years and offered its services at more than 3,000 North American locations, mostly in Sears and Wal-Mart stores.

Some taxpayers splurge on big-screen televisions or pay off their credit cards with their tax refund, while others, like Brandon Frank, count on it to pay rent. The 25-year-old former construction worker from Michigan and father of three may have to wait as long as six weeks before he sees his refund, because of a filing error by H&R Block. "I was counting on it for rent," said Frank, who's been unemployed since October and is attending college. "I'm probably going to have to go to one of the cash-advance places, because the money I was expecting isn't there.

Jeffrey Weinstein once swept through 19 Denver restaurants in six hours, a feat that most people would characterize as gluttony. Weinstein calls it research. Eating out is more than a hobby for the founder and co-chief executive of the Counter, a growing Culver City chain of build-your-own-burger eateries. In its 10 years, the company has been mentioned on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," adored by reviewers and touted as one of the forefathers of the so-called better burger craze. Weinstein, a culinary school grad, spends his time at the helm reading cookbooks, determining whether his Midwest menus are ready for spicy Sriracha sauce (yes)

Michele and Russell Poland's credit was shot, but they managed to buy their suburban dream home anyway. After a business bankruptcy and a home foreclosure, they turned to a rare option in this era of tightfisted banking - a subprime loan. The Polands paid nearly $10,000 in upfront fees for the privilege of securing a mortgage at 10.9% interest. And they had to raid their retirement account for a 35% down payment. Most borrowers would balk at such stiff terms. But with prices rising, the Polands wanted to snag a four-bedroom home in Temecula near top-rated schools for their 5-year-old son. By later this year, they figure, they'll be able to refinance into a standard loan.