Perhaps you can look at me as just that; the Devil’s Advocate in as much as this, as one who argues against a program, not as a committed opponent but simply for the sake of argument or to determine the validity of the program and that is HAMP.

When it comes to loan modifications and the whole HAMP Program these days I have become less enthusiastic over a complete and utter failure.  I’ve tried to be up beat, I’ve tried to deal a daily dose of hope in regards to those seeking a loan modification and for what I ask? Too create false sense of security and give a lingering amount of hope to the multitude facing the loss of their homes?  I feel like a liar and a fake and I hate that feeling, I really do because in actuality I feel that I am no better than Congress as I am pandering their lies, promises and shattered pieces of hope. I hate putting on that happy go lucky face and telling those who come here and others that I come in contact with to just keep pushing it will happen and don’t give up however,  I don’t think I can wear the rose colored glasses for one more day.

The truth as I see it, mortgage holders are and have been set up to fail and it’s costing them hundreds if not thousand of dollars spent on trial period payments, thousands of lost hours making phone call after phone call, faxing pages after pages, all for “we need more documents” and in some instances, it’s costing them their families and their lives literally.  What is happening right now in regards to loan modifications is truly one of the most disgusting programs that I have witnessed in my 41 years.

“Potentially "thousands" of troubled homeowners were denied opportunities to lower their monthly mortgage payments under the Obama administration's signature foreclosure-prevention plan due to servicer errors and inadequate oversight by the Treasury Department, a government audit has found.”

The above quote comes from a recent article posted on HuffPo which you can read the rest of it at your leisure by following this at Huff.

Here’s the thing as it stands and will continue to stand, the HAMP Program is VOLUNTARY plain and simple.  The servicers are pretty much free to do what they want when they want to whom they want since there is no oversight.  Asking for a copy of your NPV since you failed?  Well, you’re not going to get it regardless of how many times you report your servicer to the necessary officials, because once again there is no oversight.  You want the reasons behind your denial for the Hamp Program other than the standard robo-letter that merely tells you that you do not qualify.  Good Luck with that too.  Literally you have a better chance of winning your state lottery or getting struck by lightening than getting your servicer to comply with the guidelines, because again, there is no oversight.  Are you tired of me saying there is no oversight?  Because I’m tired of reading about it, I’m tired of writing about it and I’m tired of the Treasury Department putting band-aid after band-aid on a gaping wound called HAMP.

I think now is the time for mortgage holders to think long and hard about entering the lion’s den in regards to applying for a loan modification.  Unless you have an extra 40+ hours a week for the next 8 months to possibly 2 years to burn in faxing, phoning, copying and faxing again you might think twice about applying.   Your either going to have too much income, not enough income, too many kids, too many animals, too much money spent on food, too much money spent on gas, either way your going to have too much or not enough of something.

I know, opinions are like A-holes, everyone has one and this is just my opinion, however for months now I have watch friends and family struggle every damn day trying to make ends meet, spend time with their loved ones after working two jobs and just merely have a life.  I have seen promises broken, lies told time and time again and it kills me to continue to watch a boat sinking and not being able to do anything about it.  There is no life raft that I can throw.  Words are empty now and be strong just isn’t getting it anymore.

What we really need is a return to the 60s.  Remember the protests? The masses filled the streets against the Vietnam War and the extended powers of the Government.  I wasn’t born until 1968, however, my mother and father told me about it and history books filled in the gaps.  We are a nation under siege by our own elected officials; by our very own Government and no matter how many letters we write, no matter how many emails, faxes and the likes we send, they are not getting the message because they do not care.  They care about their re-election, they care about the money that is funneled into their pockets they care only about their political careers and outside of that, they do not care about you or your family.

Sure there are a few select officials that are trying to make differences, but in the end, their voices will fall on deaf ears as well.  We have become a society that is complacent and lazy.  We’ve depended too long on others who are advocating on our behalf to continue to carry this burden and they’re tiring daily.  How Elizabeth Warren continues each day is beyond me as she is the biggest advocate for Main Street and she just keeps plugging along but remember this, she will not be here forever and who will pick up that torch when she is gone?

Richard continues to write his articles for HuffPo, manage the website, work 40 hours a week commuting 4 hours each day, work on two other websites and squeeze in time with his wife Pamela.  I commend him for his efforts, but I know that he too, is worn out and becoming burnt out as well.  The other bloggers here also spend countless hours assisting others and trying to get their own modifications or make plans to move on after foreclosure while working 40+ hours a week to put food on the table.

Change does not come without some sacrifice and it will not come without putting time and effort into it one thing all of us here at shamethebanks knows all to well.  We cannot expect Washington to change things for us.  We cannot expect our elected officials to do as they have promised on the campaign trail.  We cannot be a society of sheep that continue to follow a Government full of waste and corruption.

We need to become the leaders of our own lives.  We need to be our children’s heroes instead of some steroid laden baseball player and the likes.  We the people need to let the Government know that we cannot sustain this path any longer.

I am jaded now when it comes to loan modifications, the Government, my elected officials, the Treasury Department, the Feds, the Banks and Wall Street.  Mortgages holders that are in need and struggling are doomed to failure, not because of anything that they’ve done wrong other than trust in a system that is not transparent, does not care about hardships and does not have any oversight and in my opinion won’t have.  We believed in a Government program that was riddled with holes from the very beginning and pinned our hopes on it, our very lives and the roof over our head.

Reality says otherwise.  Believe in yourself and your own ability to fight a system that is corrupt and set up for those on the top of the food chain, not for those of us down here scratching out a living.  Stop paying into their pockets and start keeping it in yours.  From where I’m sitting, loan modifications will not be enjoyed by the 4 million that  POTUS said it would help.  Your servicer could care less of your hardship, they want their money and that’s the bottom line and you will be promised whatever need be promised to make sure you send them the payment until they find a way to foreclose and collect even more money.

Even if you’re lucky enough to find a lawyer that would possibly litigate your claims in court vying the lawyer actually gets it and not just your money, you best have a lot of extra cash sitting around because the banks sure do thanks to the TARP funds and a slew of lawyers that can drag this out until your broke living in a tent under a bridge.  The legal system is set up for those who have money not for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck.  Make no mistake about it, they know they have you it’s just a matter of how long you’re willing to put your hard earned dollars into some clueless lawyer’s pocket and be held over a barrel until your back breaks.

Even with all that I’ve said I know that there are thousands out there that will do what they need to do in regards to trying to save the roof over their heads and I commend them for their continued fight to right what is wrong because I do get it, justice needs and should be served but if and when it will is a whole different issue.  What I am just pointing out are the facts as they’ve been reported by mortgage holders who are struggling, by scant media reports and by the ever popular Treasury Report.

Until there is substantial reform, oversight and transparency we can all expect that loan modifications are like shooting clay pigeons.  Every shooter gets lucky sometimes, however, most will miss the target regardless of how many shots or clay pigeons are launched into the blue skies.

Our rental home is quite lovely, adequate for my family and best of all its affordable.  The amount of stress that has been lifted off of me and my husband is incredible.  We no longer argue over the mortgage and what will or won’t happen in regards to a loan modification or where will we go when the bank comes to take possession of the house.   I might remind my readers, that I only applied once for said modification, found the process to be totally ridiculous after faxing 42 pages of our personal documents to who the hell knows only to be told that they never received them bringing me to a moment of clarity that I had a better chance of getting hit by a bus while doing laundry in my basement than getting approved for a loan modification.

Ohio is a re-course state (two years) so now I will wait to see if they’ll come after us when and if the home sells.  I won’t worry about it until I am faced with it as I believe there is really no sense in putting the cart before the horse so to speak.  As it stands now my family life has improved ten fold, my personal relationship with my husband is better now than it has been in over three years.  This entire financial debacle that America is facing has taken its toll on my life as well as the lives of thousands if not millions of Americans.  Oh and I can actually sleep at night now, which for me is a really big deal since I’ve barely slept the last three years or better.

I know that my life choices lead to us losing the home and I won’t lie, I still struggle with that but I know that what’s done is done and there is nothing more that I can do to change that.  I imagine that as time marches on; I will not visit the past as much as I have and that eventually I will discard that unpleasant part of my life.   I was raised to take responsibility for my actions and I do, I made some bad financial decisions in regards to my job and in regards to the house.  Outside of those two bad decisions, I cannot be held responsible for the collapse of our economy and the fact that I have yet to be able to secure a part time job.

I know today that we are not the only family in our town that has faced foreclosure and I know that we won’t be the last, as this economy struggles to regain some sort of substantial growth.  I often wonder now as I sit in the evening on the porch if there will ever be recovery after this.  I am left now to ponder, what will become of us all in the coming days and when this nightmare will truly end.

I haven’t a clue today what tomorrow will bring or three months down the road.  I will live in today; try my best to look past yesterday and wait patiently on tomorrow.  Today has enough worries of its own.  I will continue to offer my assistance to those who are diligently working to modify their loans, I will continue to try my best to education that part of the population that still blames the sub-prime borrowers for this disaster and I will continue to tell all, that regardless where you are in the process of trying to obtain a loan modification, please be prepared for the worst and have a Plan B because there will be nothing more frightening than not know where you will go if you can’t get a modification.

Strategic defaults are on the rise folks, there’s no mystery there anymore.  Mortgage holders who can afford the payments have decided that financially it’s better to walk than to pay on a bad investment.  So, what’s the big issue?  Corporations have been doing this kind of stuff for years, but I have yet to hear anyone call out their “morals”.  In the Corporate world it’s called “doing business”.  Well, here ya go, mortgage holders are just “doing business” and in doing so, they are deciding that a home worth half of what is owed isn’t worth pursuing anymore.  Sure there’s the argument that property prices are going to drop for each foreclosure that hits the neighborhood and your house being foreclosed on just brought down your neighbor’s house.  Umm, my neighbor moved out over 6 months ago, so thanks neighbor for depressing the price of my property.  Oh wait, my house went to foreclosure too, so my other neighbor can be pissed at me now along with the other guy who bolted 6 months ago and the other four who are in the midst of foreclosure proceedings now.

So why were at it, let’s take a look at those who have dropped outta the trial modifications that they were so lucky to obtain to begin with shall we. Why do you think so many people have dropped out of the trial modification programs?  You think it’s truly because they just couldn’t produce any documents for the hundredth time, or that they couldn’t afford the trial payments?  Did it occur to anyone that perhaps they realized that they were being taking for a ride and decided to turn in the ticket and get the hell off of that modification coaster of doom and get on with their lives?

Clearly, the average Joe is learning to “work” like the big dogs work.  Gee, I made a bad investment, it seemed good at the time but now things have gone down hill, I suppose its time to unload this financial monkey on my back and move on with my life.  I’m pretty sure that all those mortgages have the same wording in as much as; if you default on your loan we get the house back.  Pretty plain and simple even for those of us who can’t understand the rest of the wording in the mortgage documents.  Really it doesn’t get any simpler than that.  Not to mention they’ve already collect thousands of dollars in interest payments and they stand to collect thousands more after the foreclosure so they got their money, the house and them some.

Let’s just say for posterity purposes that the “MORAL HAZARD CARD” has been played against the average American struggling to get on with their life or have one for that matter.  When the head honchos of JP Morgan, Goldman Sach and Bank of America operate on the “NO MORAL POLICY” why should anyone else be held to a standard that they don’t even hold themselves too?  Seems to me that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander these days and folks are now operating like the big boys.

And in closing, it was Kenny Rogers who said it best “you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away and know when to run”.  Mortgage holders are running because they’ve figured out that staying just isn’t in the cards. Morals be damned.

-         H.L. Mencken (September 12, 1880 -  January 29, 1956)

Well, that paragraph there sum’s it up in a nutshell doesn’t it?  Granted, Mencken wasn’t what one would call politically correct and he did have his flaws, but his satirical (I use this word loosely)  takes on politics and democracy are what I would consider a hoot.

It would seem that those words written by Mencken echo loud and clear today.  I have tried really hard over the last year not to become cynical, but as I was telling a friend the other day, “I really think your cynicism is rubbing off on me.”  I’ve always been the one that saw the glass as half full instead of half empty.  Today, I see the glass and can’t really tell if there’s anything in it at all because it’s so dirty.

I’ve blogged before on how tired I am of the constant rhetoric that is spewed out daily by the talking heads on TV, by Congress and by POTUS himself.  We are in a state of emergency here on Main Street, yet no one hears our cries, sees the signs or really gives a rat’s ass what happens to us.  I will give it that, Senator Franken and Elizabeth Warren for the time being are the strongest and perhaps the most vocal of all in Washington when it comes to Financial Reform.  Outside of them, I really don’t see any of the other members of Congress actually stepping up to bat.

In a statement taken from an article posted here on the site and The Huffington Post Elizabeth Warren expresses her true feelings in regards to politicians:

"I'm tired of hearing politicians claim to support families and, at the same time, vote with the big banks on the most important financial reform package in generations. I'm deep-down tired of it."

Senator Franken said in an interview with The Huffington Post:

The government created this HAMP program that people have accessed, and sometimes they end up talking to the servicer of their loan and sometimes the servicers make mistakes and don't really have their back"

So, Senator Franken and Dr. Warren, between the two of you, I am just dangling on the edge of the cynical hole of death and I want to thank you for propping me up for the time being.  As for the rest of your cronies up there on Capitol Hill well, I cannot write the words that truly express how I’m feeling about all of you right now, because they all consist of a lot of four letters and since I am trying my best to be a responsible blogger I will refrain.

I know it’s probably a really crazy concept, but wouldn’t it be swell if the politicians were actually looking out for their constituents instead of merely looking out for themselves and the Too Big Too Fail Banks?  Would it really be too much to ask Congress to shut down the money train, serve us as you were elected to do?

I bet if the shoe was on the other foot and you weren’t sitting up there in your plush comfy chair but here in my second hand computer chair trying to figure out what bill’s gonna get paid and what one is going by the wayside, you’d have a better understanding of how badly Financial Reform is needed.  How truly bad it is down here, ya know on the bottom of the food chain trying to eke out a half way decent life, all the while watching “The Brotherhood” protect their backs and the banks.

Americans and Congress for that matter are mere pawns in a large and rather confusing chess game that is being played by Wall Street, The Banks, The Federal Reserve and The Treasury. Can we truly regulate a system that has been without checks and balances for decades?  Is there a real chance that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve become transparent?  We have yet to see transparency in any aspect of Congress, so why would we even begin to believe that this would be possible with these entities that are still running amok along with Wall Street and The Banks.

The necessary financial reform that is hanging out there continues to be watered down as each day passes.  As one side of the isle fights for transparency, responsibility and accountability the other side of the isle balks at each effort to contain these entities.  Again it’s the people that are caught in the middle and left to wonder what the hell is really going on.

Our Government has spent billions of dollars fighting two wars and the terrorists here and abroad yet how much money and time has been spent fighting the financial terrorists in our own back yard?  Not only do we have thousands of soldiers that have died in two wars that continue to go no where, we have millions of Americans each day losing their homes, their jobs and their retirement and virtually their lives to the financial terrorists that continue to plague society and hold us hostage.

It is without a doubt that more and more Americans are learning today who truly is running this Country and it surely is not Congress or POTUS.  It’s Wall Street, The Banks, The Federal Reserve and The Treasury all combined into one powerful force that has yet to be brought under control.

It’s truly a damn shame when Americans are held hostage in their own backyard by a corrupt financial system that cannot be controlled or held accountable for the many lives that it continues to rip apart or destroy as the minutes slowly tick by.