The Obama administration introduced
the HAMP mortgage loan modification program as a way to help
homeowners who were in danger of defaulting on their mortgage loans an
opportunity to receive new terms on their loans and stop foreclosure from
happening.  It was a chance for hard working Americans to escape from the
terms of the predatory loans the banksters originally put them in when they
were well aware that the majority of people being approved for their predatory
mortgages would not be able to afford.  Considering the unlawful and
unethical actions of predatory lenders such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP
Morgan Chase, Citigroup and others over the course of the past decade, how can we
possibly expect them to do the right thing and go along with something that
could help homeowners stop foreclosure?

HAMP was an answer to the question
of what can be done to help homeowners stop foreclosure by making it much
easier for people to obtain loan modifications.  This would release people
from predatory loans and help them get into mortgages with a much lower as well
as fixed interest rate that would reduce monthly payments to something that
would be much easier for struggling homeowners to afford, therefore avoiding
going into default on their mortgages and losing their homes to foreclosure.

However, things have not exactly
gone completely to plan since the banks have decided to simply pretend like
they are going to embrace HAMP while at the same time continuing their
predatory lending practices.  This is why they have been consistently
denying upwards of 80% of all loan modification applicants.  Once a
homeowner has been denied a loan modification, they are told that they simply
must apply again and restart the entire process, all the while working with the
same lender that originally trapped them in a predatory loan.  While
changes have recently been made to HAMP that will allow homeowners to shop
around for their loan modification like people are currently able to do, Wells
Fargo – the largest mortgage servicer in the country – have said that they will
limit their participation in this program, known as HAMP 2.0.  If the
other major lenders, such as Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase were to follow
their example, then homeowners could face a very similar situation of being
forced to deal with their original lenders like they are now.