Flickr user Ricky Romero

The term "insider loan" sound scandalous if not illegal. The truth is they are legal and commonplace in small community banks like Crescent Bank.

But it does raise eyebrows when Crescent Bank board of directors and executive staff take an unusually high amount of insider loans (almost twice the normal amount). They raise even more when The Sun News reports that at the same time the bank is borrowing massive amounts of discounted federal money and cutting back on it's loans to the outside community. The Sun News has a detailed write-up on the situation and who took these insider loans. You may see some familiar names. Read more here.