ONCE AND FOR ALL, THE ANSWER IS YES. Water is wet, the sky is blue, and you need a lawyer… Period.
Okay, I have two questions that really need answers:
1. Why is there controversy or uncertainty over whether someone at risk of losing his or her home should or should not hire an attorney?
2. Now that we have all clearly seen that it’s the lenders and servicers that have failed to modify mortgages, why do I still hear pejorative statements made about lawyers who were hired but failed to get someone’s mortgage modified?
Let’s take the first one first, shall we. Just because the rest of the country is being illogical doesn’t mean we have to be here on Mandelman Matters. Okay, let’s go with #1:
Question: If you’re at risk of losing your home, should you hire an attorney?
Answer: Of course you should. Why would you even ask such a question?
If you’re at risk of losing your home, for whatever reason, your options are many and varied, and the choices you make can be positive, or they could cost you an absolute fortune and plague you for the rest of your life. Chances are that your home is the single largest investment you’ll ever make. If that investment goes south for whatever reason, you should absolutely hire an attorney to help you make the best out of a bad situation.
At one end of the spectrum you may want or need to sue your bank. At the other end there are numerous options involving the various chapters of the Federal Bankruptcy Code. And in the vast middle, there’s the potential for any number of flavors of loan modification, short sale, Deed in Lieu, and even the increasingly popular “strategic default”. And that’s to say nothing of second mortgages, thirds, HELOCs or “purchase money, credit card debt, property taxes… the list goes on and on.
There are issues related to deficiency judgments, income taxes, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or at the state level in California, the Rosenthal Act, Truth in Lending or TILA,, RESPA… and I have no idea what that acronym stands for… all of which afford homeowners some rights, and limit others.
A person at risk of losing a home may want to try to negotiate the modification of what may, or may not be a legally binding contract in an effort to produce an amended contract or perhaps an entirely new contractual agreement. I don’t know how anyone else feels about that sentence, but it’s starting to sound dangerously close to “contract law” to me. A person in the situation has rights that need to be protected, and the servicer or lender sitting on the other side of whatever the transaction turns out to be, is not at all concerned with protecting a homeowner’s rights. Their view is: If you’re not going to pay them whatever they think you owe them, then they want the house back through foreclosing on the property.
And you don’t need to hire a lawyer for any of that? What’s in the world is going on here? Did I inadvertently take a nap and now I’ve awoken in a meaner and stupider time and place?
If you’re at risk of losing your home and you’re up against Bank of America for example… get a lawyer, okay? Or don’t, if you don’t want to. I don’t care which way you go; it’s your house and your business. But if you ask me… I think you should get a lawyer.
There are so many legal issues involved when one is at risk of losing a home that a list would certainly fill hundreds of pages. As a result, the banks and servicers have plenty of lawyers hanging around, I might add. Banks, after all, don’t just go off half-cocked, foreclosing willy-nilly without the advise of legal counsel. But I’m supposed to absolutely shun the idea of hiring my own legal representative? Why?
Well, according to many in our government, and even some at various Bar Associations, it’s because there have been some number of attorneys that have done something wrong related to loan modifications, and some number that MAY have done something wrong in that regard.
Seriously? That’s why I shouldn’t hire an attorney when I’m at risk of losing my home? What’s wrong with these people? Are they high? Stupid? What’s the deal?
First of all, according to the California State Bar’s own numbers, over the last year they’ve taken action against fewer than two-dozen lawyers in a state with 206,000 plus attorneys. So what and who cares? That should persuade me to go it alone against Bank of America? I don’t think so. They also add that they are investigating hundreds of others.
Hundreds of attorneys are under investigation. Really. So, woo-friggin-hoo. There are always hundreds of doctors under some sort of investigation in this country and it doesn’t do anything to deter me from getting medical attention when I find myself at risk of developing a bad case of the sniffles. Why in the world would I let it stop me from making sure my rights are being protected when I’m losing the single biggest investment of my lifetime?
Let’s use another example: Let’s say I was arrested for armed robbery. Would the arresting officers and District Attorney put me in a room and try to convince me not to hire an attorney because there are hundreds of bad ones out there?
“Come on Mandelman… you don’t need a lawyer… if you have any legal questions you can just ask the Assistant D.A… he’ll be more than happy to help. Besides, you do realize that 50% of all lawyers graduated in the bottom half of their class. You wouldn’t want an underachiever representing you, would you? Probably better off handling it yourself, don’t you see that?”
“Gee no, Officer Krupke… I don’t see that. Now, could you please pull that German Shephard back another foot away from my genitals… thanks so much. Yes, I know… civil rights are often overrated.”
And since we’re talking Officer Krupke, for those of you who can remember West Side Story… here’s my version of a great song… the music by Leonard Bernstein, the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta’ understand,
We thank you for your input,
But the banks are out of hand.
Obama’s done nothing,
It defies explanation,
All we want is a loan modification.
###
Gee, Officer Krupke, we’ve got some exposure;
We’re at risk of losing our homes to a foreclosure.
So, we want a lawyer,
But, anyway thanks…
Golly Moses, we’re up against the banks!
Chorus of Homeowners: Yes, indeed, we are up against the banks…
###
Dear kindly Judge, your Honor,
My realtor never said.
That if I bought the house I bought,
I’d spend my lifetime in the red.
My bank said I could refinance,
But then said no when I tried.
My lawyer said we’ll sue them cause they lied.
Chorus of Lawyers: Yes we will, we will sue them ‘cause they lied.
###
Officer Krupke, you’re really a square;
We don’t need a HUD counselor, we need a lawyer’s care!
Stop saying we don’t need one, that campaign should be curbed.
If you don’t agree you’re psychologic’ly disturbed!
###
My banker is a bastard,
My broker’s an S.O.B.
My realtor’s always plastered,
My senator pushes tea.
The media is oblivious.
Wall Street should be in jail.
Goodness gracious, they’re all too big to fail?
Chorus of Bankers: Yes! We are, we are all too big to fail…
###
Oh… Officer Krupke, you’re really a slob.
We wouldn’t need modifications if the bankers did their job.
We gave them all bailouts, to cover their blunder.
We want our money back, we don’t care if they go under.
Chorus of Homeowners: We don’t care if they go under…
###
Dear kindly HUD counselor,
You say go earn a buck.
But unemployment’s 17 percent,
And you are such a schumck.
If you can’t help me keep my house,
I’ll get a lawyer, Oy gevalt!
He will help me strategically default!
Chorus of Lawyers: Yes! We’ll help them strategically default…
###
Oh… Officer Krupke, you’ve done it again.
The question of a lawyer, is not if, but it’s when.
We don’t care if you say that a few are bad seeds.
They’re the only ones who will look out for our needs.
###
Gee, Officer Krupke,
We’re using our brains,
If a lawyer doesn’t help us, we’ll pour cement down all our drains.
Gee, Officer Krupke,
What else are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke,
Krup you!
Everyone sing: Gee, Officer Krupke… KRUP YOU!
###
Okay, well enough of that, I suppose. Although I will admit that I was having fun there for a few minutes… alas, it’s time to get back to the stupidity of real life in 2010… let’s turn to question #2… I’ll restate it so we’re all on the same page, since I know how West Side Story can lead one to distraction…
2. Now that we have all clearly seen that it’s the lenders and servicers that have failed to modify mortgages, why do I still hear derogatory statements made about lawyers who were hired but failed to get someone’s mortgage modified?
What’s the deal here? Seriously. I understood before the “report cards” came out that some people would not realize what was going on with the whole loan modification thing, really I did. I thought they were idiots then too, but I understood which facts they were missing. But then, in late July the report cards came out and showed without any question that the banks weren’t doing what they had promised… and contracted to do, right?
Remember? Bank of America like 4%. Wells Fargo like 6%. Or maybe you can reverse those percentages, I’m certainly not going to bother looking them up because it doesn’t matter. The banks haven’t done what they said they would do. So, why is it my lawyer’s fault that my loan didn’t get modified?
The damn President of the United States gave the banks several TRILLION DOLLARS and he can’t get them to modify loans on any sort of schedule, how the hell can some attorney make them do anything within a certain timeframe?
And homeowners… yoohoo! Homeowners… are you listening? You’re no picnic in this regard either, I’m hearing. You’re complaining about your attorneys too! Unbelievable! Some of you are even blackmailing your lawyer AFTER he or she gets you a modification from your bank. I’ve even see a few letters that some of you have written to your lawyer AFTER he or she got you a modification from your bank saying that now you’ve decided that you could have done it on your own, so you want your money back or you’re calling the State Bar!
I even know of two excellent attorneys that have helped hundreds of homeowners who won’t help with loan modifications anymore because of crap like that. Nice job guys… let’s blackmail the good guys here, then our neighbors will only have the bad ones left when they need help saving their home.
People… homeowners… cut the crap right now! It’s not all of you, I realize. I’m just talking to the group that’s engaged in those sort of thing. I know you’re pissed. You have every right to be. But let’s shoot at the bad guys, okay?
First of all, you have all tried it yourself before you hired your attorney… yes you have, I’ve never talked to one of you that hadn’t. And second of all, you didn’t hire your lawyer to get a loan modification, you hired him or her to try his or her best to get one. The outcome is uncertain. The outcome is ALWAYS uncertain when you hire an attorney… that’s WHY you hire an attorney.
If the outcome were CERTAIN, you wouldn’t NEED an attorney, right?
But, it’s not just the homeowners that say this stuff, it’s the California State Bar Association too, and that’s just unforgivably stupid, if you ask me. You guys at the State Bar are lawyers, for God’s sake. What part of your thought process is defective? Did you drop too much blotter acid in the 1960s, what’s the deal?
Let’s get a few things straight here:
A. If it were up to the attorney, a loan modification would take 72 hours from start to finish. Each one would come with a 50% principal reduction, and an interest rate of 2% for 30 years. Why? Because that’s how the lawyers would make the most money, that’s why. Lawyers offer to try to get loan modifications for a fixed fee of three or four thousand dollars. They don’t want it to take a year, and the fact that it often does is not the lawyer’s fault, it’s the bank’s doing.
It’s the banks that can’t answer the phone until the 100th ring. It’s the banks that lose files four times in a month. It’s the banks that are the problem here, not the attorneys.
And if there really are some number of rouge lawyers traveling through the countryside stealing $3,000 checks from homeowners, find them and put them away… both for stealing and for being morons for throwing away a law degree to get checks for $3,000. They could have worked on Wall Street and thrown their careers away for much larger amounts than that.
B. You’re not hiring a lawyer to modify your loan. It’s your bank that does that and everyone should know that. You’re hiring a lawyer to help you make the best out of an horrific situation. You didn’t create the situation, and the fact that you refinanced your home to fix it up, or go to Europe is irrelevant. No one saw that housing prices were going to drop by 40-50% because no one thought the banks were this evil or that our government was this stupid.
So, when an attorney fails to get a bank to agree that it would make more sense to modify a loan… when it would, by the way… and the bank forecloses anyway… let’s blame the people that are actually to blame… the bankers. The lawyers all feel terrible… they’re all going broke because it takes so long to find out anything from a bank… unless you want a loan, of course, and then they can say no in a matter of minutes… AND EVEN WITH ALL THAT BEING THE CASE…
THE ANSWER IS YES! YOU STILL NEED TO HIRE A LAWYER WHEN YOU’RE AT RISK OF LOSING YOUR HOME. PERIOD.
Why?
Because it’s a better answer that you can come up with on your own, that’s why. And I don’t care how many episodes of Law & Order you’ve watched.
I’ve seen thousands of homeowners get loan modifications by working with attorneys… I’ve even seen quite a few principal reductions attorneys have been able to get banks to agree to. Homeowners on their own almost never succeed. And the ones that have written to me to say they did manage it on their own… all three of them, by the way, all got modifications so small that I had to chuckle. One saved $40 a month… for the first five years anyway… so, woo-friggin-hoo for them.
Lawyers are the only answer we’ve got to help us regular people get through this mess. If we vent our frustrations on them they won’t help us, and then homeowners will be on their own against their banks. And in case you don’t already know how that story ends…
They shoot the Czar and Czarina, Alexia and Nicholas Romanoff, and their children… and then we all wonder if Anesthesia escaped…
Now, I’ll ask one more time… would you like a torch, a pitchfork or an attorney? Last call…
Ergo bibamus!
Mandelman out.
"No one saw that housing prices were going to drop by 40-5-% ..."
Whatever that 40-5-% is supposed to mean, for once and for all, get it through your arrogant little head, that plenty of smart people and quite a few dumb ones saw that housing prices were going to drop by at LEAST 50 percent. Just go back and check the blogs a few years back.
Anybody who thought bubble prices were sustainable is not too sharp, in my opinion.
From now on, be honest and say "I couldn't see that housing prices were going to drop ..."
Actually, yes, they should hire a lawyer. However, with proceeedings tedious, lenders and servicers stubborn and more houses underwater than attorneys in need for an extra hour's work, will there be enough to go round, when THIS hits? Or will each and everyone have the right qualifications? A wobbly legal eagle can cause as much damage as none sometimes ...
Aren't you the same people who said "green credit " would help you save your home..their ads glaring on your site and ml-implode....now...after taking $3,000 of my mom's money and they are out of business with no results..you don't mind if I DON'T listen to anymore advice you have to offer!
Okay, let's see... I think I'll respond from top to bottom... or I think that's right anyway...
Punstress... Okay, tell you what... send me the links to the blogs that said that real estate prices were going to drop by "at least 50%" and I'll rephrase to include that information from that point forward. Other than that, I most certainly thought that real estate prices were far from sustainable during the bubble, and that they would fall, significantly even. I did not see the Great Depression Part 2 around the corner, mostly because I did not imagine that the banks would leverage themselves 40:1, destroy the credibility of the bond market, and completely bankrupt the American banking system. So, sue me.
CrisisMaven... Thanks for the link to your blog... I just subscribed... It looks great. And I think your point is well taken that people need lawyers with the right skill sets and qualifications... no question.
mortgagemess... First of all... no I'm not the same people who ran ads for Green Credit, in fact I've never ran an ad for any company on my site. ML-Implode is not my site, Mandelman Matters is. However, your point is still correct. I liked the guys at Green Credit because they did in fact get 2600 homeowners permanent loan modifications and another 800 homeowners trial modifications... before they were shut down by the Bar, that is.
The fact that they were shut down and that their files were left to die is another testimony to the state's ineptness and poor understanding of what's going on today. The Bar, for example, could have allowed other lawyers or even a few non-profits to pick up their files and finish the work, but they refused saying that people were warned not to hire a private firm so tough cheese. I find that ridiculous and not in anyone's best interest.
To put it into some sort of context, Green Credit did manage to get homeowners more permanent loan modifications than HUD counselors have, or than most of the banks and servicers participating in the HAMP program... and that means that they were not a scam.
Also, since no one has done anything close to competent as related to helping homeowners thus far, I'd have to say that they tried their best to help as much as they could. If they were going to take the money and run, they would have done so a year ago. In my opinion, the state should try to work with companies that are getting results related to loan modifications, since so few are.
And lastly, no I don't mind anyone not listening to whatever I have to say... I certainly don't give advice. I give my opinion. That's all. I can be right, and I can be wrong. Just because I say it, does not make it the right thing for you, or anyone else for that matter, to do. In fact, sometimes I don't even follow my own advice and I come out ahead as a result.
Now, is there anything I can do to help your mom, because I will if I can.
Here is what I would like. I would like our bailout money back from the banks to pay down our national debt. And I would like the banks to either work things out fairly with the current homeowners (principal reductions), or take these homes back in numbers so great, they fail. In addition, I would like a well deserved apology from President Obama, for continually lying to the American people for the past year. Finally, I would like the real crooks who broke the bond market to go to jail. THESE ARE THE THINGS I WOULD LIKE!
One more thing...I would like Timmy G. and Ben Bernanke to kiss my ass!
CLIENTS BE AWARE OF YOUR ATTORNEY, ALWAYS ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS!
HAVE YOU WON ALOT OF CASES.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MODS.
WHAT IS YOUR SUCCESS RATE
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH MY BANK
ASK TO SEE SOME OF THE CASES WITH THAT PARTICULAR CO.
MOD CO.'S ARE GOOD TOO, BUT YOU NEED TO FIND SOMEONE WHO IS CARING AND REALLY ENJOYS THE JOB THEY DO!!!!
ATTORNEY'S LET'S BE REAL. THERE IS JUST ONE OF THEM, AND A BUNCH O F PARALEGALS DEALING THE PAPERWORK, SO ARE YOU GETTING THE ALL DIVIDED ATTENTION? ALSO THE CLIENT NEEDS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOD, OTHERWISE WHAT'S THE POINT, YOU WILL FAIL, CAUSE YOU LENDERS NEED A REASON TO DECLINE YOU, DON'T GIVE THEM ONE!!! MOVE FAST AND QUICKLY.!! HUD NOW IS LISTENING TO CLIENTS AND THEIR CASES, AS LONG AS YOU PROVE YOU ARE TRYING TO GET A MODIFICATION, THEY WILL LOOK AT YOURCASE!! DON'T WAIT FOR THE FORECLOSURE. THIS SITE NEVER MENTIONS ALL THE IDIOTS THAT SELL SERVICES THAT JUST EXTEND YOUR TIME IN THE HOME LIVING RENT FREE AFTER THE CLIENT ALREADY HAS THEIR MIND MADE UP TO MOVE OUT.!!!!
I AGREE WITH MTGBIZ, ALTHOUGH HE OR SHE USES A LOT OF CAPITAL LETTERS, WHICH IS WEIRD. HE OR SHE IS ALSO A LITTLE BITTER ABOUT THINGS... BUT THE POINT IS CORRECT, AND IT APPLIES Anytime you hire an attorney. Always remember that 50% of all attorneys graduated in the bottom half of their class.
HAVE YOU WON ALOT OF CASES.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MODS.
WHAT IS YOUR SUCCESS RATE
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH MY BANK
ASK TO SEE SOME OF THE CASES WITH THAT PARTICULAR CO.
MOD CO.'S ARE GOOD TOO, BUT YOU NEED TO FIND SOMEONE WHO IS CARING AND REALLY ENJOYS THE JOB THEY DO!!!!
ATTORNEY'S LET'S BE REAL. THERE IS JUST ONE OF THEM, AND A BUNCH O F PARALEGALS DEALING THE PAPERWORK, SO ARE YOU GETTING THE ALL DIVIDED ATTENTION? ALSO THE CLIENT NEEDS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MOD, OTHERWISE WHAT'S THE POINT, YOU WILL FAIL, CAUSE YOU LENDERS NEED A REASON TO DECLINE YOU, DON'T GIVE THEM ONE!!! MOVE FAST AND QUICKLY.!! HUD NOW IS LISTENING TO CLIENTS AND THEIR CASES, AS LONG AS YOU PROVE YOU ARE TRYING TO GET A MODIFICATION, THEY WILL LOOK AT YOURCASE!! DON'T WAIT FOR THE FORECLOSURE. THIS SITE NEVER MENTIONS ALL THE american idols THAT SELL SERVICES THAT JUST EXTEND YOUR TIME IN THE HOME LIVING RENT FREE AFTER THE CLIENT ALREADY HAS THEIR MIND MADE UP TO MOVE OUT.!!!!
mortgagemess... First of all... no I'm not the same people who ran ads for Green Credit, in fact I've never ran an ad for any company on my site. ML-Implode is not my site, Mandelman Matters is. However, your point is still correct. I liked the guys at Green Credit because they did in fact get 2600 homeowners permanent loan modifications and another 800 homeowners trial modifications... before they were shut down by the Bar, that is.
Do_the_Math (aka Krista Railey) wrote:
You mean you didn't do consulting work for Green Credit, and you didn't write the line "Help is Here" for GCS? You didn't write the GCS blog for a short period before you came to ML Implode? You didn't specificly promote GCS on your blog, write an article spotlighting them? You didn't mention GCS in several articles? You weren't at GCS during their 3 day CA DRE audit and didn't talk to the CA DRE investigator? and you didn't talk to Steve at MFI Miami to consider revising his article? You didn't know that GCS closed their office and reopened under another name and location after the CA DRE issues a Desist and Refrain order in June 2009? Any you had no idea there were ever compliance issues?
And you never had a banner for Getmycreditgrade.com (GCS' other site after the DRE D & R order) on any of your blog sites? That is funny because I printed your webpage to a pdf file a few weeks ago, and there was a banner for Getmycreditgrade.com. This is the site I found it on, but I see the site is down now: (Fortunately, as I said, I kept a copy).
http://matters4mandelman.com/
The reality is you promoted the company and knew there were issues, and then when it turned out that what I was saying about compliance was true, you simply took down your endorsement like it never happened and looked the other way.
Now its one thing to man up and admit that you made a mistake and disclose it to the public. It is quite another thing to try to cover up your mistake by denying you ever promoted the company or minimize the damage GCS has done. I know I have dealt with approximately 40 complaints and experienced GCS' refusal to provide refunds or trust fund accounting first hand. I was more than happy to forward the complaints to investigators at the DRE and CA Bar.
I never promoted the company and actually tried to take action to warn ML Implode readers and the general public. What did you do? Oh yes, you made excuses.
The fact that they were shut down and that their files were left to die is another testimony to the state's ineptness and poor understanding of what's going on today. The Bar, for example, could have allowed other lawyers or even a few non-profits to pick up their files and finish the work, but they refused saying that people were warned not to hire a private firm so tough cheese. I find that ridiculous and not in anyone's best interest.
Do_the_Math (aka Krista Railey) wrote:
Please stop shilling for the modification industry for a minute and think about what you are saying here. You are actually blaming this on regulators who communicated concerns to the company for months and gave them an opportunity to become compliant before taking action, and now it is the regulators fault? You've got a pretty warped sense of values there. Companies don't have the right to make their own rules and break the law. The reality is that the company kept taking new applications and refused to account for the clients monies that were supposed to be held in trust funds.
GCS shut down their phones, website, and moved their offices without notifying clients. I know because the information had to be posted on Trulia and a variety of other sites on the web. Again, I spoke to approximately 40 GCS clients that all said the same thing. GCS should have transferred the file to a lawful modification company in June 2009 after the CA DRE issued the D & R order instead of closing and reopening in stealth after receiving the order. By the way, good job on reporting that. Oh, oops, sorry for that error- apparently, you didn't report on that now did you?
Also, since no one has done anything close to competent as related to helping homeowners thus far, I'd have to say that they tried their best to help as much as they could. If they were going to take the money and run, they would have done so a year ago. In my opinion, the state should try to work with companies that are getting results related to loan modifications, since so few are.
Do_the_Math (aka Krista Railey) wrote:
Funny how the number of "successful" mods keep going up. For one, I don't believe anything you say let alone the so-called number of successful mods you claim GCS completed. I asked you last year for specific information on the number of mods in GCS had in process and how many they were closing and you never got back with me. But based on the sheer volume of complaints, I highly doubt that your statistics are accurate. Even Steve at MFI Miami reported that they had 700 complaints.
If they completed 2600 successful mods and 800 trial periods, how many clients didn't get served? What was their success ratio? 25%? 50%? 75%? If their success ratio was only 50%, that would mean that 3,400 people did not get helped. But success and failure ratios aside, why is it that the borrowers they didn't or couldn't help were not issued refunds? Think it might have something to do with commissions and referral fees being paid out to affiliates upfront? Or funds not being placed in trust accounts? Where is the money?
Now, is there anything I can do to help your mom, because I will if I can.
Do_the_math (aka Krista Railey) wrote:
I agree that nobody should listen to your advice- especially on modification firms and attorneys since a substantial percentage of the firms you hawked were either investigated by the DRE/CA Bar, were shut down, or surrendered their license. Your batting average is terrible because you seem to prefer smoozing to doing actual homework.
And good luck getting Mortgagemess' mom a refund. You know full good and well that GCS files and assets have been seized.
In regard to Mtgbiz, if you spent any time on the forums to maybe learn something about the financial industry which you provide commentary on, you'd know that she has been making contributions to the forums for many years and is well liked on the forums. I really don't appreciate you disrespecting Mtgbiz by calling her valid comments "bitter". She forgot more about the industry and loss mitigation than you will ever know and deserves some respect.
You know I am not going to let this scandal just fade away- especially when I see you writing condescending BS on your blog about your role in GCS and the damage the company did. You can back track and make excuses all you want, but the reality is that you caused harm and now you refuse to man up.
One last thing, if you do not endorse modification companies, what is with all the "Spotlight on..." stories? What is with the crisis commission? And what is up with the lobbying?
I've told you repeatedly that if you really want to help borrowers, stop being a shill for the modification industry and start writing consumer friendly stories to help consumers. How about starting with a nice piece on how to apply for a trial mod? You might want to start the story with something like "First, start by picking up the phone and contacting your servicer".
P.S. Because my ML Implode user name doesn't show up in the comments I left on your site, I took the liberty of inserting both my ML Implode user name and real name in the comments.