Center for Online Investigative Research

VIP loans investigated by committee for ethics on Senate

Many of those in Washington DC are concerned about the ethics of VIP cash loans their staff has. These "VIP" or "sweetheart" loans were all made by Countrywide, which was recently purchased by Bank of The United States. These VIP cash advances may end up causing ethical or legal troubles for a few senators.

Countrywide creates VIP loans

Many "sweetheart" loans were given out by Countrywide, as outlined by Bank of The United States documents. The loans were given to Senate staff and have low interest rates along with no credit check. Issa, who is a Republican senator, saying a "high concentration" of loans were given to DC staffers and explained it was unethical. The theory is that Countrywide wrote these fast cash loans loans in hopes of influencing Senator's staff members and the Senators. 2002 and 2003 were the years the loans had made.

Complaints about ethics and loans

Senator Issa decided to make it a duty to file complaints about ethics on these senators. Last year, Senator Dodd and Senator Conrad were both "scolded" by the Ethics Committee. These two senators were told to "be more careful to avoid the appearance of favoritism from Countrywide." The scolding was all they got before being cleared. Senator Robert Bennett has been named within the most recent ethics complaint. Members of his staff received 12 "VIP loans" out of the 30 handed out.

Naming the loan recipients

The investigation on Countrywide VIP cheap loans is being done by an Oversight and Government Reform committee from the Senate. Bank of The US has to give the government all documents involving VIP loans that they have integrated 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 could be a serious 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 doesn't make it a point to find out where his staffers do their banking. He didn't ask his employees about any mortgages or secured loans they may have gotten.