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 repayments" ...
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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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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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Credit Troubles
This series looks into some of the hidden traps and power imbalances that characterize the credit industry. Business Week spoke with executives, employees and consumers of various arms of the credit industry.
Tags: credit score; home-loan; FICO; debt; consumer-law bar; repay; payment
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Wall Street Concocts New Tax-Saving Ploy; Then It's Feds' Turn
Michael D. Thomson, a Washington bureaucrat, uncovers a new ploy major corporations are using to generate billions of dollars worth of tax deductions. The maneuver, which is known as "step-down preferred stock," helped corporations elude federal income taxes by increasing the deductibility of loan repayments.
Tags: Taxes; loan repayments; corporations
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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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Doctors in Debt
Dallas Business Journal examines the federal government's "troubled efforts to collect on $168.8 million in student loans remaining from the defunct Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) program. About 1,700 chiropractors, dentists and other former medical students have found their starting salaries too low to repay their student debts, the story reveals. The Journal's analysis of the government data about the debtors shows "discrepancies in payment records, departures from agency rules and confusion among those running the system." The defaulted doctors' debts could cost some of them their licenses, Patrick reports.
Tags: doctors; licensing boards; bankruptcy; college financial aid; U.S. Department of Health and Human Service; Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL); Texas Board of Chiropractic Examiners; Texas State Board of Dental Examiners
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The Fall of Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush
The series "disclosed misconduct on the part of Chuck Quackenbush, California's second elected insurance commissioner." The reporter found out that he "made secret deals with major insurance companies that allowed them to escape fines for mishandling hundreds, perhaps thousands, of claims relating to the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake." The stories reported that "Quackenbush had ignored recommendations form his legal staff that some of the big insurers in the state be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for mishandling Northridge claims. Instead, Quackenbush and his senior staff bullied insurers into "donating" more than $ 12 million to nonprofit foundations he created." The reporter found confidential documents to prove that the state regulator "used public funds and the power of his office to create a political slush fund, directed by highly paid consultants, to further his quest for higher public office." Quackenbush used some of the money to "repay his wife for personal loans she made to her failed state Senate campaign." After the misconduct had been revealed, the commissioner faced state's and federal probe of corruption and finally resigned. The reporter found out that in his "final days as insurance commissioner, Chuck Quackenbush approved contracts obligating California taxpayers to pay more than $ 1 million in legal fees to lawyers representing his commissioner and his top staff in investigations of wrongdoing."
Tags: politics; campaign; contributions; donations; political finance reports; Department of Insurance; foundations; nonprofit; television advertising; corruption; earthquake; California; impeachment; taxpayers; FBI
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Payment's Due on Canastota's Easy Money
The story exposed the dubious distribution of thousands of public dollars to elected officials, public employees and relatives of a former mayor in an economically depressed Upstate New York village. The village of Canastota drained a pot of federal money by handing out low-interest loans to people who had little incentive to repay them.
Tags: None
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Giving it all to the church
The San Francisco Examiner investigates a pastor who bilked elderly members of his congregation out of more than a million dollars in loans with the intention of building a new church. The investigation revealed that the pastor had no intention of repaying his congregants. In fact, several of his private property purchases followed loans by mere months. The minister now awaits trial on fraud charges.
Tags: Religion FBI Bankrupcy
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No title (id: 12901)
Thousands of medical professionals use Federally guaranteed student HEAL loans to help them ocver the high cost of Medical School. Most of these professionals go on to repay those loans, but many don't, leaving taxpayers stuck with the bill. KNXV-TV obtained a list from Federal officials listing more than 100 Arizona residents who defaulted, and tracked many of them down. (Feb. 24, 1995)
Tags: Heinbaugh Matthews Student loans Contest entry 8 pgs. TAPE