True Stories of Mortgage Company Excess

By Adam Whazzer

The mortgage crisis has left many of homeowners in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure. For those in need of urgent help to avoid foreclosure, Our Mortgage Mess offers assistance and a chance to air complaints and concerns about mortgage company practices. Homeowners can request help on a number of topics, including preventing foreclosure proceedings, working with mortgage companies and the problems of accepting foreclosure and turning over your house. Most importantly, this site serves as a sounding board for homeowners in trouble, preserving the accounts of their problems as a historic record of the unfair and unreasonable behavior of banks and lending companies during the current housing crisis.

Many mortgage companies are unwilling to work with borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments. At Our Mortgage Mess, customers can explain how banks and mortgage companies are using underhanded methods, even refusing to accept payments, in order to proceed with foreclosure and take away family homes. These predatory lending practices have even come to the attention of federal agencies, prompting the Obama administration to propose a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect consumers from unscrupulous mortgage lenders and banks. This proposal, brought before the U.S. House of Representatives in September 2009, faces deep opposition from major banking institutions who regard it as an unnecessary restraint on their ability to make and collect loans. Plan proponents view it as a much-needed safeguard against the predatory credit card and mortgage loans and made by unscrupulous lenders in recent years.

Mortgage holders in danger of losing their homes can post their stories at http://ourmortgagemess.com and request help and advice with their mortgage problems. Blog entries paint a horrifying picture of mortgage companies refusing to accept payments so that they can collect higher interest rates, foreclosures forced through in spite of repeated efforts to refinance, and companies forcing people out of their homes with no regard to personal situation. Many mortgage companies are simply refusing to participate in federal programs designed to help people retain their homes, or are providing misinformation to those who try to qualify for these programs, essentially undermining mortgage holders in their attempts to retain their family homes.

The blog entries at Our Mortgage Mess demonstrate the sad plight of many homeowners, and the callous and greedy approach that lenders take in these situations. These stories highlight the need for legislation and consumer protections in order to end these hateful practices. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner agrees, stating, "Consumer protection cannot be reformed without addressing these structural problems." The current housing crisis is proof that large financial companies cannot be trusted to put the needs of consumers before their own profits; only by standing up to these corporate raiders can homeowners hope to stop these shameful and predatory practices by lending companies.

Unreasonably high interest rates, uncooperative mortgage companies, and financial hardships can create an impossible squeeze on the average homeowner. It is essential to record the worst excesses of the financial institutions to ensure that their predatory practices are not buried under a mountain of paperwork; Our Mortgage mess offers homeowners the chance to tell their stories in their own words. The tragic accounts of homes lost and dreams destroyed are a sobering reminder of the lingering effects of the failure of the housing market and the lending industry as a whole and stop the madness. - 31377

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