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 "subprime mortgage" ...
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All the Devils are Here: The Hidden Story of the Financial Crisis
The book attempts to explore all the various forces -- on Main Street; Washington; and Wall Street -- that led to the financial crisis of 2008.
Tags: Wall Street; financial crisis; lending; subprime mortgage
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The Monster How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America -- and Spawned a Glboal Crisis
"The Monster" investigates the history of the subprime mortgage business by unraveling the corporate histories of the industry's two most important players, Ameriquest and Lehman Brothers. The book documents the widespread fraud and law-breaking that were largely to blame for the financial system's meltdown.
Tags: Lehman Brothers; Ameriquest; subprime mortgage; lender
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"At Top Subprime Mortgage Lender, Policies Were Invitation to Fraud
Amid a nationwide lending crisis, reporters found policies at Long Beach Mortgage "encouraged rampant fraud." Company policies made it easy for employees to submit "fake documents" and override "bad loans." Loan reviewers were often bribed with money or expensive items to approve bad loans.
Tags: Long Beach Mortgage; investment; banking; lending; Wall Street
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Mortgage Meltdown: The Watchdogs Who Warned Us
"State, city, and local officials had warned of the coming subprime lending crisis since the late 1990s, but were thwarted by aggressive banking industry lobbying, sometimes with the support of federal bank regulators."
Tags: attorney; lawsuit; currency; mortgage; interest rate;
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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 Subprime Wolves Are Back
Consumer advocates revealed in interviews that some mortgage lenders and brokers have reinvented themselves as FHA-backed lenders to feed off of the consumer panic following the national financial bailout.
Tags: fraud; Wall Street; paper trail; bankruptcy filing; Federal Housing Administration; stimulus package;
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Mortgage Meltdown
WMAR predicted the subprime mortgage crisis that began in 2007 after doing an in depth CAR analysis of the Maryland's mortgage data. With this data they created a map of "foreclosure hotspots," predicted minorities would be the worse hit, and much more.
Tags: subprime mortgage; housing; Maryland; foreclosure; minorities; loans; mortgage; computer assisted reporting; NICAR; federal government; state government
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Foreclosure's Fallout
"The growing foreclosure crisis affects not only banks and borrowers, but anyone who lives in a neighborhood with a foreclosed home. Foreclosures are spreading even into newly built suburban subdivisions - and can often have a contagious effect, reducing property values in a neighborhood and pushing even more properties into foreclosure."
Tags: foreclosures; banks; borrowers; subdivisions; property values; subprime mortgages; homeowners
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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