WASHINGTON — Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd said Tuesday he knew he was part of a “VIP” mortgage program offered by Countrywide Financial but said he was not aware that the privilege included waiving fees that regular customers must pay to obtain lower interest rates.
Dodd, D-Conn., said loan officers told him and his wife in 2003 that they would be part of an exclusive program. But the couple assumed the plan gave them unspecified courtesies and did not ask whether it included a waiver of the fees, known as points, or a reduced interest rate on their loans, the senator said.
The Senate ethics committee has begun a preliminary investigation of the special treatment afforded Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who also received a 1-point reduction on his Countrywide mortgage.
