The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "high-interest loans" ...
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The Real Estate Meltdown
"Did Appraisers Juice the Market?" showed how appraisers overstated home values. Using disciplinary records and interviews, Shanklin and McClure found appraisers who exaggerated condo sizes, appraised homes without seeing them and stated that condos were worth the $240,000 sales price even though the price was padded with $40,000 of incentives. The "Subprime Mess" package was based on more than 2 million records and showed how unconventional loans moved from low-income, inner city neighborhoods to the burgeoning suburbs. "How Investors Helped Overheat the Market" explored the role of investors in Central Florida's real estate meltdown by analyzing hundreds of data records and found that sales of non owner-occupied homes grew from 25 percent of all local residential sales in 2002 to 70 percent in 2006.
Tags: real estate; investors; lenders; purchase prices; subprime loans; adjustable-rate loans; high-interest loans; housing scam; vacant housing; condo conversion; development; property values
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Plagued By Debt
An examination of federal data shows that in 2004, "people in rural areas were much likelier to sign mortgages with high interest rates, generally above 5 percent for a conventional loan at the time." These high-rate mortgages have led to a rise in foreclosures and bankruptcy for some families.
Tags: Foreclosures; high-interest loans; rural homeowners; high-rate mortgages
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The Hard Truth In Lending
This three-day series looked at many facets of home lending. The reporters used mortgage loan data from 25 top lenders to show that blacks who bought homes in communities across America in 2004 were four times as likely as whites to get high interest rates for mortgage loans. The interest rate disparities occurred even when blacks had substantially higher incomes.
Tags: mortgage; mortgage lending; loans; loan pricing; lending; interest rates; home purchases; finance; discrimination; Charlotte
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Matter of Interest
This three-part series investigated payday loan stores that offered high-interest, short-term loans. A reporter took out loans at these stores and found that fees and interest charges ranged from 390 to 890 percent. These stores target low-income residents and were widely unregulated.
Tags: payday lenders; debt; loan; interest; stop 'n' cash; cash money; regulations
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A Future Foreclosed
This two-part investigation shows how Boshwit Brothers Mortgage Co, a longtime Memphis mortgage company specializing in loans to the poor, used Tennessee's lender-friendly foreclosure laws to take possession of 189 houses where it had made mortgages. It seized the property when the owners couldn't meet the high-interest payments. Many of the properties were converted to rentals and entered in a federal rent subsidy program that nets the firm $240,000 a year.
Tags: NAACP; real estate; rent; landlords
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'Easy Money': Georgia's payday-loan industry. Borrow $750, pay back $4,284. Critics say high-interest lenders growing fast by targeting desperate, low-income borrowers.
"Payday lenders are doing a big, high-interest, unregulated and possibly illegal business in Georgia by exploiting desperate, low-income borrowers."
Tags: payday; loans; high-interest; low-income; borrowers; banks; quick cash; scams; illegal; business; money; financial industry
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Risky Business: Exploiting a Loophole, Banks Skirt State Laws on High Interest Rates. 'Payday Loans' are a big hit with many consumers, but regulators cry foul. Annual fees can top 500 percent.
Article explains how payday loans work. The story talks about people who needed some quick cash from a payday loan center, but then regretted it later when they had to pay annual interest rates reaching anywhere from 200 to 500 percent. According to the article, "...payday loans--so-called because they typically must be retired by the next payday--have become one of the fastest-growing financial products aimed at U.S. consumers."
Tags: banks; payday loans; high interest rates; banking industry; quick cash; debt; consumers; annual interest rates; credit; bad credit; lenders; lending
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Deep in Debt
An investigation by KETA/KOED revealed that some of Oklahoma's "B" Lenders -- those who give small, short-term loans to people who normally couldn't get credit -- trick mentally disabled and elderly customers into "repeatedly taking out and refinancing high interest loans."
Tags: B lenders; Oklahoma; mentally disabled; high interest loans; credit; elderly; senior citizens; short-term loans; small; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Predatory Lending
CBS News investigates predatory lending practices. The story focuses on the case of one elderly man who was given loans with high interest and hidden fees that lead to the foreclosure of his home. The story lead to an investigation and a settlement between the lending company and its victims.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; predatory lending
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Payday Profiteers
A Multinational Monitor investigation exposes the practices of the so-called "predatory lending," targeted to low-income workers. Some major findings are that payday loans' interest can reach up to 2000 percent per year, and that they can be rolled over more than 13 times for a 6-month period. The article examines different anti-usury state laws that ban or restrict predatory lending. The investigative package includes also stories on high-interest mortgages, car title loans and costly rent-to-own scams.
Tags: mortgage; banks; finance; loans; credit; customers; rent-a-center; the Associates First Capital Corp.; Citigroup; National Home Equity Mortgage Association; lobbying; credit unions