Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, and former U.N. ambassador and assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke were part of Countrywide Financial's "V.I.P." program in 2003 and 2004, which waived points, lender fees and company borrowing rules. "Friends of Angelo," as they were called internally, were given more desirable deals than those available to non-influential borrowers.
According to Portfolio Countrywide would waive at least half a point and eliminate fees amounting to hundreds of dollars for underwriting, processing and document preparation. In the event that interest rates fell while a Friend of Angelo's loan was pending, the mortgage lender provided a "float down" the lower rate, on the house, without the usual half point charge. Additionally, some FOA's buying or refinancing investment properties were given a lower interest rate assigned to primary residences. Dodd received two loans in 2003 through the special needs program, borrowing $506,000 and $275,042 to refinance homes in Washington and East Haddam, Connecticut. $2,000 and $700 were waived on the loans, respectively. Conrad received a $10,7000 discount on a $1.07 million loan used to refinance his vacation home in Delaware. Regarding the refinancing of an 8-unit apartment building in Bismarck, North Dakota, which violated Countrywide's policy of not giving loans for larger buildings, Mozilo apparently told a staffer to "make an exception due to the fact that the borrower is a senator."
Clearly, this is an outrage. An outrage that Ed McMahon, who's probably going to be homeless after those snakes at Countrywide filed a default notice on his ass for falling a mere $600,000 behind on his $4.8 million mortgage, was not included in this elite group of people. Who, if not Ed McMahon, can truly be considered a Friend o' Orange? Does Moz have every episode of Dodd's seminal television show on VHS? No. Has Moz watched three episodes of Dodd's said television show each weeknight from 8-11, since it went off the air? No. Did Moz go carnival-freak crazy on his housekeeper's ass, after she accidentally placed tapes of said episodes of Dodd's show too close to the window on a sunny day, threatening their integrity? No. Is Moz's ringtone a recording of Conrad going "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!"? No. Did Moz wait in his living room each and every Sunday, without fail, between the year's of '93 and '98, in the hopes that Shalala would show up bearing a gigantic check for $10,000? NO!!! (And yes.)
Countrywide's Many 'Friends' [Portfolio]