VIP cash loans given to the Washington DC lawmakers staff has them very concerned. Bank of The United States bought all of these “Sweetheart” or “VIP” loans that Countrywide made. All of these VIP cash advances are likely going to give senators a hard time legally. Source for this article – Senate Ethics Committee investigates VIP loans by Personal Money Store.
Countrywide’s VIP loans
In documents most recently released by Bank of America, it was revealed that Countrywide wrote a huge number of “sweetheart” loans. These low rate of interest, no credit check loan products appear to are targeted to senators’ staffs. 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. The theory is that Countrywide wrote these payday cash loans in hopes of influencing Senator’s staff members and also the Senators. The loans were made mostly in 2002 and 2003.
Ethics complaints over loans
Various senators had ethics complaints by Senator Issa filed about them. Last year, Senator Dodd and Senator Conrad were both “scolded” by the Ethics Committee. In the scolding, they were told to “be more careful to avoid the appearance of favoritism from Countrywide.” Despite the scolding, both senators were cleared of actual rules violations. One of the most recent ethics complaint being made blames Senator Robert Bennett. Out of these 30 “VIP loans”, twelve went to his staff instead of being more spread out.
Loan recipients names
The Senate appointed a committee on Oversight and Government Reform to check out the new investigation that is being done on VIP cheap loans. A subpoena has been issued to Bank of The United States to provide all loan documents where the VIP loan department issued loans to borrowers who listed “U.S. Senate” 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 significant issue in upcoming elections.
Senator Burnett speaks on the issue
Republican Senator Burnett, who is not running for re-election, has responded in detail to the ethics complaint filed against him. Senator Burnett informed everybody that he doesn’t pay any attention to where his employers put their money or take their money from. Mortgages and unsecured personal loans they received are none of his business so he never made it his business.
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