Many of those in Washington DC are concerned about the ethics of VIP cash loans their staff has. Bank of The US bought all of these “Sweetheart” or “VIP” loans that Countrywide made. These VIP cash advances may end up causing ethical or legal problems for a couple of senators.
Countrywide creates VIP loans
In documents recently released by Bank of The United States, it was revealed that Countrywide wrote a huge number of “sweetheart” loans. No credit check was done when giving out the low rate of interest loans, and they were targeted towards Senate staff. 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. Numerous believe that Countrywide was trying to get what they want out of Senators by writing these loans. 2002 and 2003 were the years the loans had made.
Ethics being tied to loans
Senator Issa filed the ethics complaints against a number of senators. The Ethics committee “scolded” Senator Dodd and Senator Conrad for these complaints. These two senators were told to “be more careful to stay away from the appearance of favoritism from Countrywide.” Both senators were cleared after this scolding. One of the most recent ethics complaint being made blames Senator Robert Bennett. Twelve of the 30 named “VIP loans” went to members of his staff.
Loan recipients names
The investigation on Countrywide VIP cheap loans is being done by an Oversight and Government Reform committee from the Senate. 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. Anything received from Countrywide was already given to the government by Bank of American and 37,000 documents are what they have received so far. If the loan recipients are actually named, it could possibly be a severe issue in upcoming elections.
Senator Burnett gives statement
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 does not make it a point to discover out where his staffers do their banking. Mortgages and unsecured loans, he said, are personal matters that he did not specifically ask his employees about.
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