David Ramos is one of the nation's foremost experts in home loan modification. He has helped over 5,000 homeowners stay in their homes, and now works with lawyers to save homeowners as Operations Manager at Amerihope Alliance Legal Serviceswhich is a law firm that concentrates on foreclosure defense. Today, I asked him about what the government should do to help homeowners.

Interviewer: If you were President, what is the one thing you'd do to help homeowners who need a home loan modification?

David Ramos: “To understand the changes I would make, you need to first understand what the situation in the loan modification industry is today. Before Wall Street got involved with home loans, the loan modification system was a lot more simple. If a client's mortgage was with Chase Bank, for example, then we would just call the bank directly and work with them. When subprime lending was in vogue and Wall Street became involved with home loans, loans were no longer owned by single banks, they were often owned by groups of investors who purchased them on the secondary market.

Beginning in 2008, a record number of homeowners had trouble paying their mortgage payments, thanks to the subprime mortgage crisis. As a result, a record number of homes went into foreclosure.

David Ramos' mission is to help save people from that plight. Mr. Ramos, who has worked with home mortgages for over 15 years, started helping people modify their home loans 5 years ago, and hasn't stopped since. With over 5,000 mortgage modifications under his belt, Mr. Ramos is recognized as one of the world's foremost experts in home loan modification, and he continues to help people save their homes as Operations Manager at Amerihope Alliance Legal Services, a law firm that concentrates on foreclosure defense.

Today, I sat down with David Ramos to discuss the drastic changes in home loan modifications over the last 5 years.

Interviewer: Before the mortgage crisis, did loan modifications even exist?

What Is Force-Placed Insurance?

For home and condominium owners, the housing crisis brought a host of financial challenges, forcing many into or on the brink of foreclosure. Now, in addition to struggling with bank notices and loan modifications, the financial industry has added another compounding hardship for property owners: force-placed property insurance.

Force-placed property insurance has become something of a recent development arising out of the financial crisis. This is a mortgage or loan lender practice implemented mostly in states like Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey that were hit hardest by the housing crisis and were victims of recent natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy. The property insurance required by the lender insures against natural disaster and human-inflicted damages.

Finding an attorney that can help you with your loan modification is a great way to one-up the banks when trying to protect your home from foreclosure. However, you should not hire an attorney who simply does loan modifications. A licensed attorney must also provide foreclosure defense. The loan modification process alone does not protect you from foreclosure.

Anyone can submit a loan modification

You don't have to be a lawyer to submit a loan modification to the bank. However, banks can be very selective about which loan modifications they do and don't accept.