Paul Kiel
Paul Kiel covers business and consumer finance for ProPublica.
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Paul Kiel covers business and consumer finance for ProPublica.
In recent years, he’s focused on the U.S. tax system. The Secret IRS Files, which involved a team of ProPublica reporters, revealed key ways the ultrawealthy avoid taxes. Before that, he worked on The TurboTax Trap and Gutting the IRS investigations.
Past areas of focus included the foreclosure crisis, high-cost lending, the use of lawsuits to collect consumer debts, and the consumer bankruptcy system.
He has won numerous awards, including the Selden Ring Award, a Gerald Loeb Award, a Barlett & Steele Award, a Scripps Howard Award twice, a Hillman Prize, and a Philip Meyer Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors.
His work has appeared in several newspapers, including The Washington Post and The New York Times. He has also produced stories for National Public Radio and American Public Media’s Marketplace, as well as appeared on This American Life.
‘This Is Unacceptable’: ProPublica Story on Bankruptcy in Memphis Prompts City Council Soul-Searching
The story detailed how the city’s poor black residents are steered into bankruptcy plans they are doomed to fail. Two City Council members are looking at a series of solutions to address the underlying problems.
Without Fanfare, Equifax Makes Bankruptcy Change That Affects Hundreds of Thousands
For years, an Equifax policy has treated some Chapter 13 filers differently than the other two major credit rating agencies. After ProPublica asked about it, the company said it would change the policy.
Chicago’s Bankruptcy Boom
ProPublica’s analysis of racial disparities in bankruptcy revealed a skyrocketing number of filings in Chicago’s black neighborhoods. But most of the cases will fall apart before the debts are wiped away.
Data Analysis: Bankruptcy and Race in America
An in-depth discussion of racial patterns in bankruptcy filings and outcomes
Bankruptcy: What’s the Difference Between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13?
Key differences between the chapters make choosing the right one critical for success. Using our analysis, we explain how they work and how people fare under each.
In the South, Bankruptcy Is Different, Especially for Black Debtors
Only in the South is Chapter 13 the predominant form of bankruptcy. We mapped Chapter 13’s usage to show that it breaks not only along regional, but also racial lines.
How the Bankruptcy System Is Failing Black Americans
Black people struggling with debts are far less likely than their white peers to gain lasting relief from bankruptcy, according to a ProPublica analysis. Primarily to blame is a style of bankruptcy practiced by lawyers in the South.
In Nebraska, New Bill Proposes Protections Against Rampant Debt Collection
Bill seeks to block collectors from cleaning out debtors’ bank accounts over medical debts of a few hundred dollars.
Trump’s Treasury Pick Excelled at Kicking Elderly People Out of Their Homes
When Steven Mnuchin ran OneWest, the bank aggressively and in some cases, wrongly, foreclosed on elderly homeowners with reverse mortgages. The bank had a disproportionate share of such foreclosures.
In Major Settlement, States Gang Up to Strike Deal with Soldier-Suing Company
The Virginia-based company was the focus of a 2014 ProPublica investigation of its lending and collection practices.