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 "loans" ...
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All the Devils are Here: The Hidden Story of the Financial Crisis
This book offers an attempt to exlore all the various forces -- on Main Street, Washington and Wall St. -- that lead to the financial crisis of 2008. They explored the extent that subprime loans fed the crisis; how Wall Street dictated the degraded lending terms; and the efforts of federal regulators to thwart predatory lending at the state and local levels.
Tags: financial crisis; subprime lending; housing crisis; foreclosure; predatory lending; Wall Street; Contrywide; Ameriquest; Goldman Sachs; Merrill Lynch; AIG;
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Gambling on Growth
For years, St. Cloud-area cities have used public financing to pay upfront for improving roads and extending water and sewer utilities to new housing developments. Developers were supposed to pay off the debt through assessments, but many are falling behind on payments, leaving cities to bear the cost.
Tags: Developers; Finance; City Budget; Utilities; Housing; Roads; Funding; Loans; Debt
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Self Dealing and Double Dipping in the California National Guard
When the U.S. government decided to boost incentives for National Guard service and combat veterans, no one envisioned a system in which a single bureaucrat could approve tens of millions of payments to officers and others who probably weren't eligible. Yet these and other apparent abuses occurred in California's National Guard even after flags were raised, and they gained top-level attention only after Sacramento Bee reporter Charles Piller revealed them. As Piller reported, up to $100 million in potentially illegal or improper incentive payments were made to service members, including Guard captains and majors who knew they were ineligible for disbursements.
Tags: Military; National Guard; California; Incentive; Payments; Benefits; Student Loans; Combat Veterans; War Profiteering; Finances; Salary
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"Racial disparities in home lending"
A 2008 analysis of more than half a million home loan applications in the Dayton, Ohio, region revealed that blacks with higher incomes were denied home loans, while lower-income whites were not. The report also found that blacks were more likely to receive "high-cost loans" than whites. The real estate market denies redlining practices that were made illegal "in 1977 by the federal Community Reinvestment Act."
Tags: Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; NICAR; GIS; Community Reinvestment Advisory Group; Dean Lovelace; Dayton Human Relations Commission; Federal Housing Authority; home loans; redlining
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World of Trouble
This story is a “rare account of the forces that created the U.S. housing bubble and tore the world economy to pieces”. The major finding of the story was executives inside one of the largest lending companies, deliberately ignored warnings from their front line salesmen. This company was loaning money to people who would not be able to pay them back and later was victim to “more than 30 billion dollars of bad loans”.
Tags: World Savings and Loan; Golden West Financial; Wachovia; bank; mortgage; industry; Paul Bishop; homeowners
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The Card Game
This story investigates the “future of the massive consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile national economy”. This story looks into the inner workings of the credit card business and how a number of people are trying to reform the way the industry has done business for years. But some major steps need to be taken before a change can be made.
Tags: Consumer Financial Protection Agency; Congress; banks; finances; government; Providian Financial; interest rates; fees; payments
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The rise and fall of Denny Hecker
Denny Hecker is one of the” biggest, most well-known businessmen in the Twin Cities”. He owned car dealerships, a national car rental company, and was the star of many advertisements. Behind this perfect exterior is a story of criminal behaviors and massive debt. All these details were revealed after Hecker filed for personal bankruptcy, which began the “collapse of a massive empire”.
Tags: loans; revenue; money; fortune; recession; deal maker; financial; finances; assets; FOIA; lawsuits
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Bad loans, No penalties
The state of Ohio leads the nation in failed loans, which the federal government corrects while the communities suffer. One of the biggest stories, which led to the investigation and this series, was when “Columbus developers walked away from an apartment-renovation project and $26 million in government-insured loans”. Further, there wasn’t anything that held these developers liable to repay the money.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration (FHA); tenants; neighbors; local officials; foreclosure; taxpayers; property; Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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"New Frontier"
In this investigation, The Denver Post reveals potential fraud, in addition to mismanagement of "deposits and loans," caused the collapse of Colorado's New Frontier Bank. Loans were issued to borrowers who "agreed to buy stock," and loan officers often "rewrote terms of delinquent loans."
Tags: New Frontier Bank; Greenley; Larry Seastrom; Weld County; Johnson Dairy; Bill Garcia; FDIC
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"Inside the Collapse"
Kerry Killinger, former CEO of Washington Mutual, refused to take blame for the bank's collapse. Instead, he cited the faltering housing market and "credit crisis." An investigation by The Seattle Times reveals Killinger and his employees used "reckless" and "predatory practices," like encouraging high-risk loans, to increase the bank's profits. The greed-fueled decisions eventually led to the bank's collapse.
Tags: WaMu; Kerry Killinger; Lehman Brothers; Washington Mutual; Countrywide Financial