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 "bad debts" ...
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Debt-uty crisis
The four-day series detailed the controversial origins of the Knox County Sheriff's Office Pension Plan -- called the Uniformed Officers Pension Plan, UOPP -- and the ramifications its approval had on county finances. The series looked at how the plan was sold to the public on lies and bad information.
Tags: pension plan; sheriffs; Knox County
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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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Bad Debts Soaring, Government Strives For Ways to Collect
The New York Times reports on the federal government's growing debt, which has grown to $126 billion from $100 billion in the last two years. Meanwhile, the government's resources for monitoring its debtors are shrinking, creating what Comptroller General Charles A. Bowsher a perilous situation.
Tags: federal government; Comptroller General; Charles A. Bowsher; deficit; debt; owed; money; finances; businesses
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Showing Its Age: Fed's Huge Empire Set Up Years Ago, Is Costly and Inefficient
The Journal reports that the federal Reserve Bank has too many banks, some in wrong places, and is facing losses in check-clearing. The story finds that "rapid changes in technology, consolidation in banking and rising competition in some of their basic services threaten to make Fed banks costly relics. Except for the New York Fed, the system's link to world markets, many Fed functions could be centralized at far less cost and some fed banks could be closed, federal auditors say."
Tags: banking; competition; credit cards; bad debts; write-offs; loans; business; financial services
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Dun Deals: As Many People Sink Into Debt, One Group Of Workers Prospers
The Journal reports on the business of collecting bad debts. The story profiles Joel Krisolofsky, an employee at Abacus Financial Management Services LP, a collection agency. "As more Americans fail to repay debt, collecting has become lucrative work."
Tags: credit cards; finances; debtors; student loans; bankruptcy
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Trust Betrayed
The Herald-Tribune reports on abuse and rip-offs in group homes for disabled. The series follows the coverage an accident in which a fire killed two developmentally disabled men. The investigation finds that state inspectors have "ignored repeated complaints" that the residents have been mistreated, sexually assaulted and deprived of their money and belongings. The stories shed light on how Vicky and Bob Swan, a family with history of fraud and bad debts, have received more than $1 million from the state to operate group homes. The Swans hired "felons, misfits and drug addicts to care for men and women who needed help eating, bathing and getting dressed," the newspaper reports. The follow-up stores examine the poor decision-making by state regulators and the devastating impact of state budget cuts on proposed fixes for the system.
Tags: group homes; Florida Department of Children and Families; mental retardation; Down syndrome; autism; mental health; fire
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Lab Rats
A New Times investigation reports on "a litany of veiled, disingenuous and sometimes fraudulent financial schemes that badly damaged the university's other primary missions." On the basis of internal financial records and memos provided by professors and former administrators, the story depicts a "history of misspending of state revenue bonds and federal grants," as well as "a history of university administrators destroying the careers of those who complained..." The University of Arizona succeeded in becoming one of the top 20 public research institutions in the country, after a massive effort in this direction, which started in the 80s. However, the reporter finds, it slipped "in critical categories such as faculty salaries and student retention."
Tags: public records; higher education; universities; colleges; fraud; construction; debt; Large Binocular Telescope project; life sciences
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Debt and the salesman
The New Yorker profiles the billionaire Bill Bartmann, owner of Commercial Financial Services (C.F.S.), which "by 1998 .. was reporting a net annual take of about a billion dollars and a scale of profits higher than Microsoft's." The story details how Bartmann reached "the highest altitudes of wealth by buying other people's bad debts from creditors at radical discounts and making those debts yield." The report follows the ups and downs in Bartmann's life from his childhood to his biggest successes in his forties, and looks at "Bartmann's potential liability in C.F.S.-related lawsuits."
Tags: entrepreneurship; consumer debt; fringe banking; pawnbroking; loans; Tulsa; Oklahoma; venture; bankruptcy; credit-card debt
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Sukamto Sia
A KITV-TV investigation into the lifestyle of Hawaii businessman Sukamto Sia reveals that Sia is a compulsive gambler and had written bad checks totaling $6 million to cover gambling debts.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Sukamto Sia; Hawaii; gambling; Las Vegas; money; debt; politicians; business; fraud
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Partners With Clout
Two contractors with an extensive history of bad debts and questionable business practices won more than $37 million in state contracts and subsidies after becoming major contributors and fund-raisers for N.Y. Gov. George Pataki and other politicians. Frank and Ken Stubbolo had fund-raisers for N.Y. Gov. George Pataki and other politicians. Frank and Ken Stubbolo had a lengthy record of bankruptcies, financial judgements and tax defaults - much of it detailed in public records...Despite their clouded background, however, the Stubbolo brothers wound up with state contracts to build dormitories, an assisted-living facility and a community center. The state's failure to examine the contractors' background and qualifications quickly became apparent with the dormitory job had to be halted because of design flaws and delays.
Tags: contractors; campaign finance; PAC; CAR; OCA; Office of Court Administration