Senators knew about VIP deals, lender says
Dodd, Conrad deny assertions
WASHINGTON - Two influential Senate committee chairmen were told they were getting special VIP deals when they applied for mortgages, an official who handled their loans told Congress in closed-door testimony. Senators Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad had denied knowing they were getting discounts when they negotiated their loan terms.
Robert Feinberg, who worked in the VIP section of Countrywide Financial Corp., testified about the loan terms before the Senate Ethics Committee, and provided the same information in an interview with Republican investigators of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Both senators have said that at the time the mortgages were being written they didn’t know they were getting unique deals from Countrywide, a company that lost billions of dollars on bad loans and since has been purchased by
Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, received two Countrywide mortgages in 2003, refinancing his home in Connecticut and another residence in Washington.
Bryan DeAngelis, Dodd’s spokesman, said Feinberg has repeatedly made allegations of special treatment that were not true. “As the Dodds have said from the beginning, they did not seek or expect any special rates or terms on their loans and they never received any. They were never offered special or sweetheart deals and if anyone had made such an offer, they would have severed that relationship immediately.’’
Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat who leads the Senate Budget Committee, received two Countrywide mortgages in 2004, one for a beach house in Delaware and another for an eight-unit apartment building in Bismarck, N.D. Yesterday, Conrad defended himself and questioned the truthfulness of Feinberg, who could be prosecuted for making false statements if he misleads Congress.
The senator said that Feinberg previously stated he did not tell Conrad that Countrywide was waiving 1 point, an upfront fee, on the loan for the Delaware beach house. “He has contradicted his own story,’’ Conrad said.
