Countrywide Financial Corp. reportedly gave four current members of the U.S. House of Representatives special VIP loans, according to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA.).
Mr. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced Sunday that four unidentified House members may have received special treatment from the mortgage lender that was taken over by Bank of America in 2006.
Mr. Issa sent a letter noting “possible wrongdoing” by House members to the House Ethics Committee last week. The letter states that between 1996 and 2008, Countrywide issued discounted loans to lawmakers in an effort to further their business interests.
The House Ethics Committee requires House members and their staff to accept loans only on terms that would be generally available to the public.
“Documents reviewed by the Committee show that four current members of the U.S. House of Representatives received loans through this VIP program,” Mr. Issa stated in the letter.
“In accordance with this Committee’s policy to forward information relating to possible wrongdoing by Members of Congress to the appropriate ethics committee, I write to bring the existence of these loans to your attention,” the California Republican added.
The VIP program was known by Countrywide employees as the “Friends of Angelo” program, a reference to former Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo.
The House Oversight Committee began investigating Countrywide in 2008, they found that 173 mortgage loans were issued as part of the VIP program to employees of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The disclosure of the information came at a rough time for Congress, which has experienced single digit job approval ratings in recent months. Public perception of Congress also has declined after reports of lawmakers engaging in insider trading surfaced after a “60 Minutes” special aired in November exposing the investment practices by certain members of Congress.
“Testimony and documents show that Countrywide used the VIP program to build relationships with government officials and others positioned to advance Countrywide’s business interests,” Mr. Issa wrote in the letter to the House Ethics Committee last week.
“My staff is also aware of the possibility that loans with VIP-benefits were conferred to other Members, and serviced by a separate loan processing branch,” Mr. Issa added.
