Dodd: I didn't know VIP meant perks
By Jessica Holzer
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said he and his wife knew Countrywide Inc. was
treating them as "VIP" customers when they refinanced mortgages on two
homes
in 2003, but it didn't cross his mind he was getting a financial perk from
the sub-prime lender.
Dodd, who as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee oversees mortgage
lenders, said he did not ask and Countrywide's representatives did not say
what the VIP treatment entailed.
Dodd and Conrad are diverging sharply in their handling of the matter.
Conrad has sought to redress the problem by giving a $10,700 gift to
Habitat
for Humanity. On Tuesday, he said that Ethics Committee staff indicated
that
he may need to pay Countrywide to wipe away entirely any appearance of
impropriety.
On Monday, Conrad paid down one of his two Countrywide mortgages that is
under scrutiny.
Dodd on Tuesday appeared to reject terminating his relation****p with
Countrywide or making a donation to charity commensurate to the financial
break he received from Countrywide.
"I don't believe we did anything wrong," he said.
He explained that he and his wife shopped around for rates, making
inquiries
at Wa****ngton Mutual and Wachovia, among other lenders. He said the rates
they received from Countrywide were well within the band of rates that
borrowers were getting across the country.
"There wasn't any red flag for me," he said.
Dodd said that he and his wife received a 4.25 percent rate on a five-year
adjustable rate mortgage on their Wa****ngton, D.C., residence, and a 4.5
percent rate on a 10-year adjustable rate mortgage on their Connecticut
home. The rates amount to a discount of fractions of a percentage point,
according to internal Countrywide e-mails obtained by ****tfolio.
Countrywide also apparently shaved a percentage point from the fees on
Conrad's home mortgage. In addition, the lender made an exception by
selling
the senator a mortgage on an eight-unit apartment building he owns with
his
brothers. Normally, it provides loans on buildings with four or fewer
units
Conrad on Tuesday sought to clarify a subsequent re****t that he spoke to
Mozilo by phone about his mortgage, saying he didn't call the lending
executive or realize that talking to him could result in any special
treatment.
"I didn't call him. I called my friend who happened to be with him at the
time," he said, referring to James Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie
Mae, whom Conrad says he called to ask for advice on getting a new
mortgage.
Dodd and Conrad are diverging sharply in their handling of the matter.
Conrad has sought to redress the problem by giving a $10,700 gift to
Habitat
for Humanity. On Tuesday, he said that Ethics Committee staff indicated
that
he may need to pay Countrywide to wipe away entirely any appearance of
impropriety.
On Monday, Conrad paid down one of his two Countrywide mortgages that is
under scrutiny.
Dodd on Tuesday appeared to reject terminating his relation****p with
Countrywide or making a donation to charity commensurate to the financial
break he received from Countrywide.
"I don't believe we did anything wrong," he said.
He explained that he and his wife shopped around for rates, making
inquiries
at Wa****ngton Mutual and Wachovia, among other lenders. He said the rates
they received from Countrywide were well within the band of rates that
borrowers were getting across the country.
"There wasn't any red flag for me," he said.
Dodd said that he and his wife received a 4.25 percent rate on a five-year
adjustable rate mortgage on their Wa****ngton, D.C., residence, and a 4.5
percent rate on a 10-year adjustable rate mortgage on their Connecticut
home. The rates amount to a discount of fractions of a percentage point,
according to internal Countrywide e-mails obtained by ****tfolio.
Countrywide also apparently shaved a percentage point from the fees on
Conrad's home mortgage. In addition, the lender made an exception by
selling
the senator a mortgage on an eight-unit apartment building he owns with
his
brothers. Normally, it provides loans on buildings with four or fewer
units
Conrad on Tuesday sought to clarify a subsequent re****t that he spoke to
Mozilo by phone about his mortgage, saying he didn't call the lending
executive or realize that talking to him could result in any special
treatment.
"I didn't call him. I called my friend who happened to be with him at the
time," he said, referring to James Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie
Mae, whom Conrad says he called to ask for advice on getting a new
mortgage.
By pure coincidence, according to Conrad, Mozilo was sitting next to
Johnson, who suggested the senator speak to him directly. Conrad doesn't
recall whether Mozilo referred him to a Countrywide loan officer, or
whether
the company contacted him.
"If I could be faulted, it's probably right there," Conrad said of asking
Mozilo for advice. He said he didn't think twice about talking to the head
of the lender about the mortgage, given his office in the Senate, because
he'd
done so with every one of the mortgages he's taken from North Dakota
lenders.
"Each and every one of them, I've dealt with the head or the No. 2 of the
institution," he said.
Conrad also said that, after his staff had contacted Countrywide, he
learned
that he did not receive a percentage point off the interest rate on his
mortgage, as the initial re****t suggested. Instead, the lender had slashed
one percentage point from his mortgage fees.
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