Senators Deny Knowing Of Home Loan Favoritism

Like Dodd, Conrad denied knowing that he was part of a program that had saved him money. "I had absolutely no clue they had done that," he said yesterday.

Yesterday, Conrad paid off the final $32,000 on the multi-unit mortgage and contributed $10,700 to Habitat for Humanity to compensate for the benefits from the beach house loan.

Dodd said he has no plans to make charitable donations or refinance his mortgage with Countrywide. "I don't feel at this point I have any obligation," he said, adding that he spoke only to "loan officers" and that it would have been inappropriate to talk to Mozilo directly about his mortgage.

"I did not seek, nor was I aware of, nor did I at the time try to solicit" a special deal, he said.

Dodd said he and his wife, Jackie, sought several refinancing offers from such companies as Washington Mutual and Lending Tree. Countrywide's rates were competitive with other offers, he said.

They knew "there was a VIP section that we were in" but thought it was given to them because they had been with Countrywide since 1999 and had two mortgages, Dodd said.

"We literally just assumed it was a courtesy. . . . There was no red flag to me that we were getting anything special," Dodd said.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a liberal watchdog group, filed a complaint Friday with the Senate ethics committee requesting an investigation of the Countrywide loans. It cited Senate rules that allow for "loans from banks and other financial institutions on terms generally available to the public."

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the ethics committee, confirmed yesterday that the panel had begun a preliminary inquiry into the loans based on the CREW request. "A complaint has been filed and we are, as we always do, looking at that," she said.

Conrad said he understands that despite the compensation he made, the ethics committee still may rule that the terms of his loan were inappropriate. "They're going through a process. The focus is: Was there a gift? So we have to wait," he said of the inquiry.