Several Washington D.C. lawmakers are caught up in an ethics investigation over VIP cash loans given to their staffs. Bank of America bought all of these "Sweetheart" or "VIP" loans that Countrywide made. These VIP cash advances may end up causing ethical or legal issues for a few senators.

VIP loans made by Countrywide

Numerous "sweetheart" loans were given out by Countrywide, according to Bank of America documents. No credit check was done when giving out the low interest rate 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. Of course, we have not caught this till now when the loans were made years ago in 2002 and 2003.

Loans being complained as bad ethics

A number of senators had ethics complaints by Senator Issa filed about them. The Ethics committee "scolded" Senator Dodd and Senator Conrad for these complaints. These two senators were told to "be more careful to keep away from the appearance of favoritism from Countrywide." The scolding was all they got before being cleared. Probably the most recent ethics complaint being made blames Senator Robert Bennett. Out of these 30 "VIP loans", twelve went to his staff rather than being more spread out.

Names of those who took loans

The investigation on Countrywide VIP cheap loans is being done by an Oversight and Government Reform committee from the Senate. A subpoena has been issued to Bank of The US 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 America has provided 37,000 documents related to Countrywide and their lending practices. If the loan recipients are really named, it could possibly be a severe issue in upcoming elections.

Senator Burnett gives statement

In detail, Republican Senator Burnett, retiring, spoke about the ethics complaint filed against him. Senator Burnett said he doesn't care about where his staffers do their financial business at. Mortgages and unsecured loans, he said, are personal matters that he did not specifically ask his employees about.