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 "lending" ...
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Lost Paradise
People who bought retirement or hunting property in north Arkansas learned too late that developer Wayne Watkins didn't record their sales at the county courthouse and that he used land he sold to them as collateral for $2.6 million in loans. When he defaulted, banks foreclosed. Because no legal record existed of the buyers' ownership interest, banks often sold the land again.
Tags: banks; lending; housing; loans; fraud; housing scams; foreclosure
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The Financial Collapse
Among the findings in this package are: In February, Morgenson warned that the arcane contracts known as credit-default swaps were so volatile and explosive that they would "set off a chain reaction of losses at financial institutions." In May, she examined the moves by private investment firms to buy up hundreds of New York apartment buildings, betting that they could evict tenants and raise rents. In July, she reported on the enormous increase in consumer debt and the changes in the lending system that encouraged risky loans. In September, she dissected the small London Investment unit that had bedazzled the insurance giant AIG with its profits but soon brought it to its knees and helped trigger a widespread collapse. In November, she profiled the reckless executives who gambled on subprime home mortgages and led Merrill Lynch to its demise. In December, she held the credit-rating agencies to sharp account, in particular Moody's, showing how they had minimized or overlooked the dangers to investors.
Tags: AIG; credit-default swaps; Wall Street; Merill Lynch; Federal Reserve; columnists
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The Credit Trap
This series ties lax credit card lending and punishing fee practices to the housing boom, to consumers' mounting financial distress, and to the economic downturn. The reports revealed that during the housing boom, banks sharply raised card limits in part because of a surge in home equity, much of it now vanished. Then banks guided borrowers to tap into rising home equity to pay off card balances, putting their homes at risk.
Tags: credit card; credit card debt; home equity; housing market; economy; rate hikes; mortgages; banking industry; card lenders
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The Foreclosure Factory
"Using data analysis and interviews with those inside and outside the mortgage industry, Ron French and Mike Wilkinson revealed the roots of the housing meltdown in Detroit, where 260 homes a day receive foreclosure notices. Presumed to be merely a symptom of Michigan's dismal economy, the foreclosure crisis instead was being fueled by rampant fraud and poor policing of the mortgage industry."
Tags: housing; real estate; foreclosure; landlords; proprietory lending; HUD; state government
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Cashing in on Blight
This investigation exposed a development company that used vacant and neglected homes in low-income neighborhoods to make money by sellings them repeatedly at ever higher prices among a circle of investors, who took out larger loans each time. The company's stated goal of renovating the homes to rent them out was not accomplished.
Tags: real estate; housing; FBI; fraud; lending; CM Development; landlords; Section 8; CAR; FOIA
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Behind the Meltdown
The foreclosure crisis in the Sacramento Bee's coverage area impacted more than 8,000 homes. Among the Bee's findings were that while the area's median income was about $80,000, home loan "stated income" applications indicated reported figures closer to $100,000, which were not verified before a loan was disbursed. As a result of the risky loans, many home buyers' credit ratings took a major hit, while homes dropped in value and the market was flooded with people attempting to sell. With so many vacant homes, squatters have become a problem in neighborhoods like North Sacramento's Western Avenue, which the Bee identifies as perhaps the area hardest hit by the crisis.
Tags: Foreclosures; home loans; false income reports; subprime lending; housing crisis
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The Ratings Charade
This investigative piece exposed the central role played by rating companies in the subprime scandal. Ratings firms collaborated with banks o create the very mortgage-backed securities they would then turn around and evaluate. And the credit raters were paid three times as much in fees for this work as they got for grading bonds.
Tags: predatory lending; finance; ratings; credit; mortgages
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Street of Broken Dreams
The authors investigated predatory lending on West Camile Street in Santa Ana, CA. They found that subprime lending had become so out of control, many residents of the area were being threatened with foreclosure after sales prices fell below the amounts they owed and monthly payments soared. The investigation reveals that most of the victims of subprime lenders are Latino; often the borrowers spoke little English and did not understand the terms of their mortgages. The story also examined the impact of the practice on the neighborhood; as homeowners packed tenants into their houses to pay mortgages, they caused crowding and parking problems. Furthermore, recently foreclosed houses are attracting squatters and gangs.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award; finance; class; poverty; mortgage; interest rates; lending; loan; loan sharks; Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; data analysis; CAR
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Foreclosing on the American Dream
"Colorado leads a national wave of foreclosures that is leaving neighborhoods blighted and forcing many homeowners into financial ruin. The Denver Post examined why the state's foreclosure rate leads the nation and how it is affecting Coloradans, their communities and the economy. Aggressive building and lending practices, lax regulation and a high rate of mortgage fraud, among other factors, are pushing thousands of homeowners into foreclosure."
Tags: forecolsure; homes; Colorado; fraud; building regulations; lending; mortgage
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The Final Frontier
This investigation looks into the Chicago Housing Authority and demographic changes that have occurred with the destruction of public housing. Starting with 1995, The Chicago Reporter analyzed residential property transactions and home mortgage lending data, as well as Census data to track significant racial and economic shifts over the years.
Tags: Chicago Housing Authority; public housing; real estate; home mortgage lending data; CAR; housing developments; FOIA; Census 2000