VIP cash loans given to the Washington DC lawmakers staff has them very concerned. These “VIP” or “sweetheart” loans were all made by Countrywide, which was just lately purchased by Bank of America. All of these VIP cash advances are likely going to give senators a hard time legally.
VIP loans made by Countrywide
Bank of America documents show that Countrywide decided they would give “sweetheart” loans out to people. The loans were given to Senate staff and have low interest rates along with no credit check. Issa, Republican senator, feels like these loans might cause some kind of ethical problem considering a “high concentration” of them were given to staff of those in DC. Many believe that Countrywide was trying to get what they want out of Senators by writing these loans. The loans were made mostly in 2002 and 2003.
Ethics and loans
Several senators had ethics complaints by Senator Issa filed about them. The Ethics committee “scolded” Senator Dodd and Senator Conrad for these complaints. In the scolding, they were told to “be more careful to avoid the appearance of favoritism from Countrywide.” Both senators were cleared after this scolding. Senator Robert Bennett has been tattled on within the ethics complaint filed most recently. Out of these 30 “VIP loans”, twelve went to his staff rather than being more spread out.
Names of those who received loans
The Senate appointed a committee on Oversight and Government Reform to look at the new investigation that is being done on VIP cheap loans. Bank of America has to give the government all documents involving VIP loans that they have included anything that has “US Senate” written down as their employer. Thus far, Bank of The United States has provided 37,000 documents related to Countrywide and their lending practices. If the loan recipients are actually named, it might be a severe issue in upcoming elections.
Senator Burnett responds
Republican Senator Burnett, who’s not running for re-election, has responded in detail to the ethics complaint filed against him. In short, Senator Burnett said that he doesn’t make it a point to discover out where his staffers do their banking. Mortgages and secured loans, he said, are personal matters that he did not specifically ask his employees about.
