Fixing the Financial System

Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big to Fight Regulation

The influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession, is pouring record sums into lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations – and getting results.

Photo by Lagan Sebert / Investigative Fund
healthcare
HELP US INVESTIGATE
Do you have a story about recession profiteers?

The Investigative Fund has begun collecting "signs of deception" -- photographs of recession-related advertisements across the country. Have you spotted suspicious signs in your neighborhood, or on your way to work?

Submit a Photo   Send a Tip

Latest Coverage | Fixing the Financial System

Hard Times Update: Readers Share Tales of Foreclosure Schemes, Mortgage Misfortune

Last month, we put out a call for stories and photos to help document the effect that "Hard Times Profiteers" are having on distressed borrowers and others suffering financial hardship because of the recession. The response was robust. We received more than 100 tips from borrowers, tenants, real estate brokers, investors and others who have experienced or observed misfortune amid the current housing crisis. We also collected dozens of photos documenting bandit signs from California to Maryland.

Amanda Zamora9 March 2010

Another Wall Street Bonus Tax Falters in Congress

Few topics have generated as much political heat between Main Street and Wall Street as the billions of dollars in bonuses handed out at financial companies that received federal bailouts. But Washington’s efforts to claim some of that money for taxpayers continue to falter.

Ben Protess9 March 2010

Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big to Fight Regulation

The influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession, is pouring record sums into lobbying, campaign contributions, and public relations – and getting results.

Keith Epstein2 March 2010

Consumer Complaints Soar on Mortgage 'Rescue' Schemes

As many Americans sank deeper into financial trouble last year, a record number reported that they fell victim to schemes seeking to profit from their misfortune, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Ben Protess24 February 2010

HARD TIMES PROFITEERS: Help Us Investigate 'Signs of Deception'

Drive through most any city in America and the offers will leap out at you: "Repair Your Credit!" "Sell Your House Quick!" They are signs of this recession, posted by Hard Times Profiteers seeking to capitalize on the financial misfortune of others, and we need your help documenting them.

Ben Protess18 February 2010

INTERACTIVE MAP: 'Quick Credit' and 'Foreclosure Rescue': Searching for Signs of Deception

You’ve probably seen them -- hand-drawn signs advertising credit repair, foreclosure rescue or quick cash. They are signs of this recession, posted by Hard Times Profiteers seeking to capitalize on the financial misfortune of others, and we need your help documenting them.

Amanda Zamora18 February 2010

VIDEO: Senate Deal on Consumer Agency in Doubt

Has President Obama’s plan to create a new consumer financial protection agency died on Capitol Hill? That may turn on whether two key senators can make a deal.

Over the last several months, the Investigative Fund has been tracking the agency's topsy turvy journey through Congress. The House in December narrowly approved a bill that would create an independent agency – the CFPA -- to oversee and write rules for consumer credit products such as mortgages and credit cards.  Now the Senate Banking Committee is working on its own version of financial regulatory reform.

Ben Protess3 February 2010

Victim of a Real Estate Scheme? Tell Us Your Story

It’s a no-brainer: As people lose their jobs and struggle to pay the mortgage, they are increasingly vulnerable to those looking to make a quick profit off their troubles.

The Huffington Post Investigative Fund would like to shine a light on real estate schemes going on around the country. How widespread are these activities? Who is behind them? And who is getting hurt?

Amanda Zamora3 February 2010

Congressman to AIG: Show Us Your E-mail

You might imagine that by now the public would know every last cause and consequence of the government’s $180 billion bailout of insurance giant American International Group.

Ben Protess29 January 2010

FDIC Responds to I-Fund Story on Sheila Bair's Bank of America Mortgages

Below is a statement received Jan. 22, 2010, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. regarding the Jan. 21 article by the Huffington Post Investigative Fund about FDIC chair Sheila Bair. Responses from the Investigative Fund are in red.

Investigative Fun...22 January 2010

About This Investigation
Fixing the Financial System

Are Wall Street and Washington learning the right lessons from the crisis and making the right changes?