House Oversight Committee: Members of Congress Received Special Favors from Mortgage Lenders
Including the Democrat Chair of the Senate Banking Committee Chris Dodd who was in a position to block mortgage reform legislation, either in Committee or through filibuster and so he did. Republican Senators and the Bush Administration tried repeatedly since 2001 to get such legislation passed Chris Dodd and were unable to do so.
Here's a quote from the House Oversight Committee's staff report on Countrywide Mortgage influence-peddling:
http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Countrywide-112th-Report-7.3.12-1207-PM.pdf
"Considering the cost to taxpayers of the failure to reform the GSEs, Congress should consider legislation prohibiting companies from offering discounts and other forms of preferential treatment to Members of Congress and congressional staff. In addition to mortgage lenders like Countrywide, such legislation should cover banks, auto dealerships, jewelry stores, and any other company that offers financing to customers.To foreclose the possibility that a lender might apply a discount to a loan without their knowledge, Members of Congress and congressional staff should consider notifying all parties to complex financial transactions that they must not receive discounts due to congressional ethics rules, as Congressman Sessions did."