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 "mortgage service" ...
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Foreclosure Crisis
The reporters reveal the underlying flaws in a public-private debacle involving the Obama administration's program that depended on the good faith of mortgage servicers.
Tags: mortgage; foreclosure; housing market; home
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A Renter's Nightmare
"Banks are illegally evicting Chicago tenants when their landlords foreclose, with the unwitting assistance of the Cook County Sheriff's Office."
Tags: paperwork; fraud; eviction; realty; Realtor; mortgage service;
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Holding GSEs to Accounting Standards
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the nation's fourth and fifth largest financial services companies. They hold a combined $1.5 trillion in loans and mortgage-backed securities on their books and guarantee payment on another combined $2.4 trillion in MBS held by other investors. Both the Federal Reserve and Bush Administration think the companies have grown too big, too fast and worry that they could upend the broader markets if their interest-rate hedges are wrong and there's a sudden and unexpected rate shift in the opposite direction. Kopecki broke the news that Fannie's accounting woes stretched far beyond those the government-sponsored enterprise previously disclosed. Kopecki also chronicled the problems with two Federal Home Loan Bank System board members suspected with using non-public information to sell large stakes of the Bank's stock.
Tags: GSE; government-sponsored enterprises; financial services companies; insider trading; loans; mortage-backed securities; accounting
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The Player
The Oregonian tells a narrative drama of business and finance based on the life of Portland's Andy Wiederhorn. "At 32, Andy Wiederhorn was bold, stylish and very wealthy. Then the bottom fell out of Wilshire Financial Services Group, challenging everything he believed about himself."
Tags: business; mortgage-backed securities; loan agreements; ownership; finance; Andy Wiederhorn; Wilshire Financial Services
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The Reinvention of Privacy
Society will have to redefine what is meant by "privacy" in a world with caller I.D. and patents for imbedded chips which track people remotely. The market for tools and services that safeguard privacy is hopping (paper shredders, Hushmail, body guards all in demand). "A person can't function in American society without regularly using a Social Security Number, which has become a de facto national ID number --and which, as such, is the key to all sorts of private information. If one needs a mortgage, as almost everybody buying a home, does, one has to turn over paged of detailed background date, some of which banks can then sell to whomever they like." The article includes the who's who and what to read surrounding the privacy issue.
Tags: privacy; database; surveillance; safeguards; public domain; "privacy space"; anonymizer technology; Zero Knowledge Systems; Inc.; encryption; browsers; cookies; infomediary business