Paul Kiel

Nonprofit Hospital Stops Suing So Many Poor Patients: Will Others Follow?

One Missouri hospital sued thousands of uninsured patients who couldn’t pay for their care, then grabbed a hefty portion of their paychecks to cover the bills.

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For years, Heartland Regional Medical Center, a nonprofit hospital in the small city of St. Joseph, Missouri, had quietly sued thousands of its low-income patients over their unpaid bills. But after an investigation by ProPublica and NPR prompted further scrutiny by Sen. Charles Grassley, the hospital overhauled its financial assistance policy

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For Nebraska’s Poor, Getting Sick Means Getting Sued

Predatory collection agencies are garnishing wages from the poor over already paid debts.

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Two years ago, the president of Credit Management Services, a collection agency in Grand Island, Nebraska, presented a struggling local family with the keys to a used 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis. To commemorate the donation, the company held a ceremony that concluded outside its offices, where the couple and their two young girls could try out their

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When Lenders Sue, Quick Cash Can Turn Into A Lifetime Of Debt

High-cost loans — with annual interest rates ranging from about 30 percent to 400 percent or more — can turn a $1,000 loan into $40,000 of debt.

Five years ago, Naya Burks of St. Louis borrowed $1,000 from AmeriCash Loans. The money came at a steep price: She had to pay back $1,737 over six months. “I really needed the cash, and that was the only thing that I could think of doing at the time,” she said. The decision has hung over her life ever since. A single mother who works

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Bank Of America Lied To Homeowners And Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say

Ex-employees say that in response to a crush of struggling homeowners, the bank often misled them and denied loan applications for bogus reasons.

A Bank of America branch is shown in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, April 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Bank of America employees regularly lied to homeowners seeking loan modifications, denied their applications for made-up reasons, and were rewarded for sending homeowners to foreclosure, according to sworn statements by former bank employees. The employee statements were filed late last week in federal court in Boston as part of a multi-state

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On Victory Drive, Soldiers Defeated by Debt

Many of the nation’s military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent.

Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation's military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent. The Military Lending Act sought to protect service members and their families from

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The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers In A World Of Hurt

World Finance, a billion-dollar company, peddles installment loans, a product that often drives borrowers into a similar quagmire of debt.

One day late last year, Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump outside Atlanta and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that couldn't be. She'd been careful to wait until her $270 paycheck from Walmart had hit her account. The money wasn't there? It was all she had. And without gas, she couldn't get to work. She tried not to panic, but

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For Most Homeowners, Gov’t Foreclosure Deal Brings A Few Hundred Bucks

The government’s largest effort to compensate victims of the banks’ foreclosure practices is finally sputtering to an end. But for most of those eligible – nearly three million borrowers – it won’t be much of an ending: they’ll be receiving a check for $300 to $500.   Payments to Homeowners Regulators are dividing $3.6 billion […]

The government’s largest effort to compensate victims of the banks’ foreclosure practices is finally sputtering to an end. But for most of those eligible – nearly three million borrowers – it won’t be much of an ending: they’ll be receiving a check for $300 to $500.   Payments to Homeowners Regulators are dividing $3.6 billion in

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