By KATHLEEN PENDER, San Francisco Chronicle

Is Swiss banking secrecy as holey as its cheese?

That question comes to mind after the Swiss government agreed to facilitate a settlement under which UBS will turn over the names of about 4,450 accounts held in the Swiss bank by American residents to the Internal Revenue Service.

Is the term "jobless recovery" an oxymoron?

That was the question some readers had in response to my recent column on the subject.

A battle is brewing among consumer groups, car dealers and the government over the use of contingency agreements in the "Cash for Clunkers" program.

At issue is who is left holding the bag if a transaction goes awry.

Establishing credit is an increasingly important step on the road to adulthood, but if done irresponsibly, it can be the financial equivalent of drunken driving.

Credit is seen as so risky that Congress passed a law that will restrict the marketing and issuance of credit to people younger than 21 starting in February.

Most people think of Charles Schwab as a brokerage firm, but one of its biggest profit generators is actually money market funds.

With short-term interest rates close to zero, those profits are being squeezed as Schwab, like most money fund managers, is waiving some fees to prevent returns from going negative.

The federal cash-for-clunkers program goes live Friday.
Before then, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration still has a lot of work to do -- including signing up dealers, posting a list of eligible cars and dealers on its Web site, and answering some of the oddball and tricky questions it has received about the program.

Ally Bank, formerly GMAC Bank, has chopped the rates it offers on certificates of deposit since the American Bankers Association complained to regulators in late May that the government-controlled bank was paying too much.

When I was growing up, my parents insisted that we not talk about our vacation plans in public, lest someone overhear and break into our house while we were gone.

Congratulations: You've graduated from college.
Now for a real-world test: finding health insurance.
Unless you have a job with health insurance lined up, you need to get your own coverage.

The federal government and some banks are trying to make it easier for stressed homeowners to sell their home for less than they owe, a transaction known as a short sale.
This month the Treasury Department said it is creating a streamlined, industry-wide process for short sales and will pay bonuses to certain borrowers, loan servicers and second-lien holders to do them.