Southwest Airlines

When it comes to how they treat their customers, some companies follow Santa-like policies. Others are more like the Grinch. But which is which? Consumer Reports offers the skinny on how a number of high-profile businesses behave with its Naughty & Nice Holiday List. Here's a rundown:

If August is all about scoring deals on backpacks and other back-to-school items, then what should you buy in September? The editors at DealNews took a look at historical data and came up with the best and worst things to buy this month.

Take me up to the ball game -- thanks to a new offering from broadband provider Row 44, baseball fanatics won't have to miss one tobacco spit or big hit while flying, because Major League Baseball will stream games to airline passengers' WiFi devices.

Credit cards can destroy your financial life, if you're not careful. But choose the right one -- a card that fits with how you spend your money and what you like as a reward -- pay your balance in full each month, and you can turn ordinary, necessary expenditures into real life-enhancers.

Airlines are tossing consumers aside and grabbing the benefit of lower federal taxes on travel tickets. By Saturday night, nearly all the major U.S. airlines had raised fares to offset taxes that expired the night before.

Credit card companies are tripping over themselves to attract big spending, timely payers. The credit industry mavens at CardHub.com report that there credit cards than ever offering higher initial rewards bonuses -- for people with credit scores above 700.

Companies with strong balance sheets and high dividends will be among the few safe investment harbors if the economy continues to cool -- and given today's conditions, it's hard to imagine how the recent stock market rally could last much longer. Here are five dividend stocks that should keep paying strong returns.