Many of our clients, however, have come to us after having tried themselves to work out a solution with their lender. In doing so, they find they have lost valuable time, increased their frustration immensely, and have only moved closer to losing their home. In fact, the disarray in which the lenders find themselves renders them unable to respond timely to the borrower?s inquiries. Most loans are owned in by ?trusts? in ?pools? and are serviced by loan service companies who do not have the authority to renegotiate terms of the loan. The servicer?s authority extends to collecting your payment and issuing late fees and penalties and to pursuing foreclosure if the terms of the loan are not met. The servicing agents are often understaffed and overwhelmed with the volume of work. Their contracts with the lenders typically pay more for the late fees, costs and penalties when you are in default. They do not have an incentive to respond to your request for modification. A typical experience would include calling the customer service 800 number listed on one?s bill, being put on hold for lengthy periods of time, after which time one speaks to a representative in a call center, most likely in a foreign country. One will then likely be transferred to another representative and yet another and eventually, for whatever reason, be told to call back. Every call will be of a similar nature and one will never speak with the same representative, and each representative will have a different ?understanding? as to what is needed, or what is the procedure to follow. This will continue over days and weeks. Nothing substantive happens and eventually the process grinds to a halt --while the foreclosure sale date continues to approach.