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SunTrust Bank is cutting ties with three types of legal businesses in the latest evidence of the Obama administration’s secretive crusade against “objectionable” enterprises. SunTrust, which counts more than 400,000 small business clients, cited “compliance requirements” as its reason for closing accounts with “payday lenders, pawn shops and dedicated check-cashers.” “It is consistent with long-standing industry practice to review relationships to ensure they satisfy a range of business and risk considerations,” the bank said in a little-noticed press release dated Aug. 8. In the same blanket notice, however, SunTrust underlined its support for maintaining bank relationships with licensed gun sellers....

A Beverly Hills real estate broker is waiting for escrow to close on two upscale properties, but that won't happen until after Christmas. So what is a powerhouse agent to do to generate some quick spending money for holiday shopping? This one hocked her diamond Patek Philippe watch at a Beverly Hills pawnshop for cash. She'll reclaim her $15,000 timepiece when the deals close, said Jordan Tabach-Bank, chief executive of 73-year-old Beverly Loan Co. "Never before have we seen so many affluent people needing cash," he said. "People are in a cash crunch. You can't go to the bank for...

Squeezed by tight credit and tempted by record high gold prices, small business owners are finding an alternative to the bank: the pawn shop. More than half of the customers at online pawn shop, Pawngo, are small business owners, said Todd Hills, CEO of the Denver-based company. "These guys can't wait. They have businesses. They have employees they need to pay," said Hills. "This is a great way to solve a short-term need." Pawning is a relatively no muss, no fuss process, especially when compared to getting a bank loan. Like a bank loan, the customer is charged interest. Once...

If you'd like a reading on how the economy is affecting the average San Franciscan, you could call an economist. You could study wages and layoffs. You might even graph the rise of foreclosures. Or you could stop into the Provident Loan Association on Mission Street behind the Old Mint. "It's heartbreaking," said manager Ben Shemano. "We have people bringing in their last treasures, filled with unrealistic hopes and expectations." Shemano and others at Provident don't like to think of it as a pawn shop. There are no handguns, toaster ovens or electric guitars in the window. The store -...

CHICAGO (AP) — A new kind of gold rush is unfolding at jewelry store and pawn shop counters — featuring not prospectors, but consumers. White-collar workers, retirees and many others have been digging through jewelry boxes and safety deposit boxes to cash in as gold prices flirt with $1,000 an ounce. Coins, old wedding rings, necklaces given by ex-boyfriends, hand-me-down gold pieces — everything is fair game when it brings this kind of profit. Shop owners across the country are marveling about the phenomenon they say began in the latter part of 2007 and accelerated through the winter, reflecting torrid...

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole! Fare you well! Fare you well! First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit holeSecond thread: The New Hobbit HoleThird thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!) Fourth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IV - The Road Goes Ever On...Fifth Thread: The Hobbit Hole V - Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...Sixth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VI - And Whither Then? I Cannot Say...Seventh Thread: The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet... Eighth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VIII - Still round the corner we may...

<p>TALLAHASSEE — Keeping lists of gun owners who get their weapons from pawnshops or secondhand dealers would be prohibited under a bill that passed the Florida House on Tuesday.</p> <p>The measure, sponsored by Rep. Lindsay Harrington, R-Punta Gorda, passed 81-35, and now goes to the Senate, where sponsor Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, will shepherd it through the process.</p>