Issa: Countrywide Gave Lawmakers Discounted Loans

A congressional investigation turned up evidence that Countrywide Financial Corp. lavished four members of Congress and an unknown number of GSE executives with discounted mortgages between 1996 and 2008, Rep. ""Darrell Issa"":http://issa.house.gov/ (R-California) said Friday.

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Issa addressed members of the ""House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform"":http://oversight.house.gov/, which he chairs, by releasing an ""open letter"":http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/files/12-16-11-dei-to-bonner-re-countrywide.pdf to the public.

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He said that ""Bank of America"":https://www.bankofamerica.com/ ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô which acquired Countrywide during the financial crisis ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô assisted the investigation by producing ""approximately 100,000 pages of documents"" in line with subpoenas from the committee.

""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,"" Issa wrote.

He did not disclose the names of any members of Congress implicated by evidence in the investigation.

He said that Countrywide also offered as many as 173 discounted mortgages to employees with ""Fannie Mae"":http://www.fanniemae.com/portal/index.html and ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/, ""including those in senior positions.""

The congressman also alleged that his staff would continue to investigate the possibility that other colleagues may have received discounted mortgages from another servicing branch with Countrywide.

It was unclear Monday what actions the House committee would take next.