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 "loan" ...
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Indentured Students
In a year-long series, Bloomberg detailed how the $1 trillion in outstanding student loans has imprisoned borrowers in a lifetime of debt, enabling a host of predatory collections practices, misleading financial-aid offers and out-of-control college spending -- while politicians for decades ignored mounting danger signals.
Tags: Student loans; debts; financial aids; college expenses; politicians
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Profiting from the Auto-Bailout
September, 2012 the Obama campaign launched television ads blasting Romney’s November 2008 New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” In an article for The Nation Magazine, funded by The Nation Investigative Fund we discovered that Ann Romney, personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romneys’, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment. It all starts with Delphi Automotive, a former General Motors subsidiary whose auto parts remain essential to GM’s production lines. No bailout of GM—or Chrysler, for that matter—could have been successful without saving Delphi. So, in addition to making massive loans to automakers in 2009, the federal government sent, directly or indirectly, more than $12.9 billion to Delphi—and to the hedge funds that had gained control over it. One of the hedge funds profiting from that bailout— $1.28 billion at the time of publication — was Elliott Management, directed by Romney supporter, Paul Singer.
Tags: Bailout; political campaign; Obama; Romney; Paul Singer
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The Columbus Dispatch: Credit Scars
The Dispatch documented the plight of thousands who, through no fault of their own, have been denied the chance to buy a home or a car, take out a loan for college, rent an apartment, land a job, join the Armed Forces, receive medical care or even open a checking account.
Tags: Credit cards; credit reports; checking accounts; banks
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Inside Fannie Mae
Internal documents obtained by the Free Press showed that contrary to Fannie Mae's public statements that it was doing everything possible to help struggling borrowers keep their hopes, it was quietly denying homeowners' requests to modify their loans if they were more than 12 months behind in their payments.
Tags: Fannie May; borrow; homeowner; foreclosure
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Culture of Corruption in the California National Guard
The series showed that up to $100 milion in illegal or improper incentive payments were made to California National Guard members. The reporter found that funds meant to repay student loans and give cash bonuses to draw new recruits and entice Guard members to sign on for another stint went to soldiers who didn't qualify for the benefits.
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Pay Day Lenders Skirt Law
The story revealed how a high end race car driver who is also a convicted felon is partnering with an Indian tribe to run a multi-million dollar payday loan business. By partnering with the tribe the lenders do not have to follow any state laws. The lender is currently under multiple investigations by attorneys general.
Tags: payday loan; Better Business Bureau; property tax records
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Grave Mistakes
An investigation showing how the database of deceased Americans created in 1980 under the Freedom of Information Act accidentally lists thousands of Americans as deceased, suffering frozen bank accounts, refused credit cards, denied student and mortgage loans, or arrests for suspected identity theft. It also exposes how identity thieves have learned to use the filed to commit numerous acts of identity theft for tax fraud.
Tags: identity theft; deceased; federal records; tax fraud
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The Fed's Trillion-Dollar Secret
"Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve under the FOI Act, seeking disclosure of its loans to banks during the financial crisis. The central bank fought the release of the data for more than two years, during which time congress and the courts both weighed in on Bloomberg's side."
Tags: FOIA; Federal Reserve; foreign banking; central bank
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Fast and Loose
Stories told how millionaire real estate developer Rusty Hyneman and partner Michael Bourne benefited from sweetheart bank loans. The stories illustrated wide-open bank practices that helped trigger the housing crisis and the Great Repression.
Tags: Recession; housing crisis; banks; loans; developer
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Government Vastly Undercounts Defaults
The story explores the problem of student loan defaults, using unpublished data from the Education Department. It looks at what defaults costs borrowers and taxpayers and examines why for-profit colleges have the worst default rates.
Tags: default; student loan; Education Department; loan; university