Since www.shamethebanks.org was launched on March 23 and announced on the Huff Post, the site has received thousands of visitors. Homeowners have been submitting stories, commenting on articles and stories, and downloading hundreds of mortgage related documents that are available on the site. The content on the site has received over 13,000 hits and continues to gain momentum.

In the site's short time on the web it's been featured on moveyourmoney.info, with the tag line, "Want to tell people how you were abused by the big banks? Share your story at ShametheBanks.org,where you can read other horror stories and stay up to date on how government policies affect you."

Denise Richardson, consumer advocate and owner of GiveMeBackMyCredit.com, wrote in her recent Sun Sentinel post, "ShameTheBanks.org is a great non-commercial location for consumers to share their stories about fighting the banking system, lowering their interest rates, or advocating for student loan rights. It is also a resource, providing homeowners with mortgage and loan information drawn from across the Internet and beyond, all in one location."

Richardson also sent us an e-mail shortly after the site was announced on Huff Post. "I never heard of the site, so went to see if it was a legit site -- I was thrilled that it was," she wrote eluding to the enormous number of commercial sites offering similar information at a cost to already cash-strapped and desperate homeowners.

Unfortunately not every site covering the crisis is as dedicated to helping homeowners or grateful to see another site as Richardson is. Earlier this month, in an effort to inform Congress and the powers that be about the daunting experiences homeowners were facing in getting loan modifications, I visited homeowner forums to solicit stories from people. On a recent visit to one forum I posted a request for information from homeowners who had received trial modifications and been granted permanent modifications. I wanted to repudiate the amount of "successful" modifications banks and servicers have claimed. The owner of the site banned me from the site the same day, claiming that I was self promoting, though it was difficult to read his response amongst the ads on the site.

Over the last year, while blogging about the crisis, I have received a number of e-mails from homeowners recounting their stories and difficulties in getting any relief in this crisis. Each story is different and was sent with the hope that comes with media attention. As I wrote in my last post, "Every once in a while a story will pop up in the press about a homeowner being unfairly treated by a bank, like this Indiana couple who were denied a modification by GMAC for making their payments early. The bank is contacted by the media, the situation is rectified, the bank explains it away and inevitably they simply go back to business as usual with the rest of their customers -the ones who didn't get media attention."

Initially people contacted me with trepidation and reserve, asking me to not mention them by name or location for fear that publicizing their plight would lead to retribution from the banks. A couple of weeks ago, facing a pile of e-mails, a few of us got together and decided to put a site together for people to tell their stories. I contacted each of the homeowners who had e-mailed me to inform them of shamethebanks.org and our intention. I fully expected to get push back and more misplaced fear.

My inbox was brimming the next morning.

"YES, you have my permission to use my case or words in anyway that will help another realize they are not alone and make the point the banks are scamming us by double and triple dipping ONCE they can do what they do to get our homes to auction," was just one e-mail I received from Catherine Drake. She and her husband are among the many who have had enough and feel they have nothing to lose by coming forward and telling their story.

Lori Kelly wrote, "Feel free to use my first and last name. I have nothing to hide. Except maybe the HAMP police," she wrote. She now blogs on the site.

The site is riddled with information, stories from homeowners are coming in every day, and the blogs are active. The contributors to the site are homeowners, consumer lawyers, and even some who worked for loan servicers. A few of the members have blogs on the site. Each of them is dedicated to one purpose: Helping homeowners find information and give them a voice they otherwise may not have had.

The majority of of the comments are empathetic as people respond to the stories and blog posts."I don't even know you, but your story hits home with me," one reader posts.

Banks aren't the only ones angering homeowners. People frustrated with how elected officials have responded to this situation leave their comments as well. "I went to Senator Feinstein's office a few weeks back as I had petitioned for a meeting. I thought I was going to meet her, but ended up in a room with a twenty-something aide," writes one reader. Another woman told me that Congressman Mike Conway of Texas told her, "I don't get involved in the private sector."

Bank of America recently announced a plan to reduce principal after a tongue lashings from the White House. Treasury's March report of modifications to date by servicer show's Bank of America as having modified less than 10 percent of its eligible loans. There is little confidence among homeowners or economists that the bank will follow through with this recent announcement according to an NPR Radio broadcast.

On March 4 Ocwen's president, Ron Farris appeared before the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and said, "In Ocwen's experience, negative equity increases the chance of a re-default by one-and-a-half to two times."

This assessment by Farris may be accurate, but it is in stark contradiction to his companies policies. In e-mail communications and phone conversations with Jennifer Levy, an Ocwen Bank Loan Workout Specialist and Farris' own secretary, Linda Ludwig, about our loan, both women stated emphatically that Ocwen never reduces principal, despite what their executives are quoted as saying. Ludwig even accused us of taking what they said out of context. Ocwen has been ordered by a judge to clean up their accounting, calling it "systematic abuse" and repeatedly been given a grade of "F" by the Better Business Bureau, yet Congress continues to accept their testimony without verifying any of their claims. A successful loan modification from either Bank of America or Ocwen has yet to be reported.

The public relations departments of these firms has done an excellent job convincing Congress and homeowners who are not losing their homes that they are doing great things, but the reality of the situation for homeowners is far from great and we're posting new stories as they come in.

In just one week shamethebanks.org has managed to reach more people than we had hoped. We're hoping the momentum will continue and eventually reach Washington.

Help spread the word and the shame at ShameTheBanks.org and tell your story about the bank or elected official treating you shamefully. Let them know that their plan isn't working and homeowners continue to be duped out of their money and their homes.

Why ShametheBanks.org? Because it's been over a year since the Obama Administration and Treasury announced the Making Home Affordable plan, also known as HAMP. The plan was supposed to potentially help nearly six million struggling homeowners by lowering monthly mortgage payments and in some cases reducing principal.

Several months after the plan was announced the Obama Administration, seeing that lenders had no intention of really helping borrowers, decided to try to shame them into modifying mortgages and subsequently published the monthly results of the plan. Needless to say this had very little effect on the bank's conscience or ability to turn things around. You can't shame the shameless, but that was the plan. To Shame the Banks.

According to the latest report by Treasury, just over 170,000 mortgages have been permanently modified. The banks and servicers who participated in the program have offered 1,354,350 homeowners trial modifications - a far cry from six million and a mere 12 percent of those have been converted to permanent modifications. The rest? Who knows?

The Congressional Budget Office reported that HAMP won't even spend the full $50 billion it had allocated to helping homeowners. It will only spend $20 billion. That's $5 billion less than the government spent saving the auto industry and only 3 percent of what it spent saving the banks.

Every once in a while a story will pop up in the press about a homeowner being unfairly treated by a bank, like this Indiana couple who were denied a modification by GMAC for making their payments early. The bank is contacted by the media, the situation is rectified, the bank explains it away and inevitably they simply go back to business as usual with the rest of their customers -the ones who didn't get media attention.

So what about the ones who don't get into the media? The 300,000 homeowners facing foreclosure every month. Many of whom have filled out the paperwork countless times only to be given ridiculous excuses for being denied?

Banks and servicers will string people along by dangling a permanent modification in front of them for several months beyond the normal three month trial period. After having received every payment on time and in full they will deny them a permanent modification and foreclose anyway. So far it's estimated that homeowners have been bilked out of close to $4 billion in this way. A technique paid for by taxpayers. If they do get a modification, it can be nothing more than a difference of $20. The banks call that a modification and collect more taxpayer money.

That's why a few of us came up with ShametheBanks.org. A non-commercial, not-for-profit website for homeowners to tell their story and have it published. Think of it as a petition with your story behind the signature.

As it says on the About page of the site:

We are just everyday people who have either been in the process, are currently in the process or looking into the process of Loan Modifications. Some here are in foreclosure and waiting for the other shoe to fall; some have received a modification that in the end will probably do more harm than good; and others are still waiting to know their fate.

We work our jobs, pay our bills and struggle to find a way to bring it all together for the good of our families. We've reached out to Congress, to Government Agencies who are supposed to help us (HUD and the OCC come to mind), to the Banks and many, many other resources only to be lied to, pushed aside and trampled on and, to top it off, we have been viciously attacked by others who are not fully aware of the truth.

ShametheBanks.org has not been created to make money off of the suffering of others. It has been created to give a voice to each visitor to share their stories and give a true account of what the Banks, Congress and Wall Street are actually doing to American families today.

If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of people losing their home, I urge you to tell your story. If you aren't, I'd be willing to bet you are within at least three degrees of separation of someone who is. The people taking your home are banking that you won't find a voice. We're banking that you will.

There's also a Facebook and Twitter account with the same name. Yes we're amazed they were available too.

Since last year nearly 1 million struggling homeowners facing foreclosure have been offered trial modifications on homes that have depreciated in value. The modifications reduce the monthly payments for homeowners and many have scrambled to make the new payments. Some have taken second or third jobs, borrowing from family, and depleting savings in hopes of being approved for a permanent modification on a home that is most probably underwater (worth less than what is owed).

In truth, a disturbingly large percentage are denied permanent modifications and given no reason as to why they are denied. These people will most likely face foreclosure, ruined credit, and shame, despite their best efforts and their proven ability to afford and pay the new mortgage. Bank of America for example, in what I can only assume is their "friends and family plan" permanently modified 98 mortgages of the 156, 864 trial modifications they started.

Many of the trial modifications have been extended unreasonably beyond the requisite three month period. The banks attribute the delay to questionable claims of lost paperwork and a lack of effort on the part of homeowners. Some homeowners have been stuck in a modification limbo for five or six months only to be denied a permanent modification after making the required payments.

With close to a million homeowners forking over a conservative estimated average of $3,000 - $4,000 over the course of the trial, that's nearly $4 billion banks and servicers have fleeced from homeowners on false hope and empty promises, only to foreclose any way.

For the relative few, like my wife and I who received permanent modifications after a 15 month battle, the fight is far from over.

One of the more populist arguments to the mortgage mess is principal reduction. Another is simply walking away, like corporations do all the time without the same perceived moral obligation homeowners are made to feel. Without equity in the property, it makes little financial sense to keep paying.

Ocwen's General Council Paul A. Koches was recently quoted in the New York Times as saying "We realized early on that if we don't include principal treatment, you just don't get the buy-in from the borrower to stay with it," referring to principal reductions.

Paul Koches was also notably quoted as saying, "We roll up our sleeves; we talk directly with the borrower. We find out what their situation is and we provide counseling and basically a complete underwriting of the delinquent loan, perhaps the way it should have been done at the point of origination."

But in speaking with Jennifer Levy, an Ocwen Bank Loan Workout Specialist and Ocwen CEO Ronald Farris' own secretary, Linda Ludwig, about our loan, both women stated emphatically that Ocwen never reduces principal, despite what their executives are quoted as saying. Ludwig even accused us of taking what they said out of context.

After my last post, I Refuse to be Ripped Off, Jennifer Levy of Ocwen called our home and screamed at my wife, "Don't call my number or e-mail me again. I will not be threatened," referring to her having been mentioned in the article. An ironic statement to make after having threatened to take our home for the last 15 months.

After three months of making every payment early and by wire transfer, Ocwen actually increased our principal by $13,000 and claimed an additional $12,000 as a charge off to the IRS (we'll owe taxes on that) and reported the value of our home to the IRS as $100,000 more than the appraised value. Based on an appraisal they ordered and made us pay for. In addition they tacked on some late fees, a half dozen certified mail fees, a $315 title report fee, four property inspection fees, a Loan Document Copy Fee, and threw in another appraisal. No one came to the house, no appraisal was done, we received no certified letters, and requested no copies.

It's important to note that when we first received the agreement for the trial modification and saw item 10c of the Agreement we were apprehensive.

"10(c) Any expenses incurred in connection with the servicing of your loan, but not yet charged to your account as of the date of this Agreement, may be charged to your account after the date of this Agreement."

We asked that this particular wording be clarified and received the following:

"The fees and fines referred to in section 10c and other parts of the document are in the event that [you] are late with our trial payments and any future payments, but do not apply to any fees incurred prior to this agreement as there is no itemization or breakdown in the actual document."

Needless to say, neither the $12,000 nor the $13,000 have been explained despite our repeated requests. A former Ocwen employee in contact with us has identified them as arbitrary junk fees that Ocwen notoriously adds to accounts to pad their books. In addition, the total payments we made over the three month trial period have not been credited to our account. They appear no where on any statement or report.

In May 2009 Louisiana Judge Elizabeth Magner, after reviewing multiple cases involving Ocwen Loan Servicing said they regularly acted in "bad faith". She issued a 15 page order (PDF) about Ocwen's "systematic abuse" and outlined specific accounting procedures. Despite this order their accounting and reporting remains convoluted and cryptic.

Ocwen President Ronald Farris during an interview with NPR told the reporter that "one of the largest, you know, banks in the world sat here in this room ..." and asked Ocwen for advice.

Ocwen has claimed almost 50 percent or nearly 30,000 of the country's permanent modifications. By simply adding an additional $50 with a few $5 and $10 arbitrary charges here and there every month to each loan, like they've done to us, it adds up. An additional $1.5 Million every month more than covers the executive salaries.

If this is the playbook they gave other banks, is it any wonder we're screwed? Maybe it's time for a good lawyer, but if I could afford a lawyer I wouldn't need a modification.

It's a good thing they got their scripts several days ago so that each CEO could go over their written part of the travesty that this nation has faced.  This all looks really good doesn't it?  Mr. Dimon, your hair is fine, and yes the camera loves you.  Did you get the answers to the questions memorized?  No, that suit is fine you don't need to change it and yes we have some powder for that nasty oily glare on your forehead.  Mr. Blankfein, did you get enough sleep last night?  We need to get some cover up on those dark circles, yes, it's top of the line cover up sir, nothing but the best for you. Mr. Moynihan, welcome, we are so glad that you've taken over for Mr. Lewis, no, he wouldn't have looked good at all here today, but thank the good Lord you have that homespun down home boy next door face, the cameras will love you and your gonna do just great, keep to the script and all will be fine today.

Now make sure that all of you show some remorse for what has happened.  Don't be to remorseful cause it will look fake, but be real enough so that all of those pissed off Americans watching this coverage feel that you are taking some sort of responsibility for the economic time of hell and despair.  Make it good boys, all of America is watching you today.

Here's Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein's prepared testimony. A highlight from Blankfein's words about the bank's risk management practices:

"As I look back prior to the beginning and throughout the course of the crisis, we never knew at any moment if asset prices would deteriorate further, or had declined too much and would snap back...After the fact, it is easy to be convinced that the signs were visible and compelling. In hindsight events not only look predictable, but look like they were obvious or known."

Well, hindsight is twenty/twenty right?  Seriously, they all have prepared comments by some Harvard Grad intern for their firms writing up the bull-shit laden remorseful gosh we just didn't see this coming but we still are gonna find a way to spin this off onto someone else since we just can't be held accountable for this financial collapse.  Plus, it would be so hard to swallow for the Taxpayers that is, if one of this sons of bitches actually told the truth.  However, maybe the truth they are telling is exactly what they believe.  Really, if you lie enough you will eventually start to believe said lies and in the end it becomes the truth at least in the mind of the liar right? So, I have to go to the definitions of Pathological vs. Compulsive Liar and here it is folks via www.truthaboutdeception.com.

Pathological Liar

A pathological liar is usually defined as someone who lies incessantly to get their way and does so with little concern for others. Pathological lying is often viewed as coping mechanism developed in early childhood and it is often associated with some other type of mental health disorder. A pathological liar is often goal-oriented (i.e., lying is focused - it is done to get one's way). Pathological liars have little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of others. A pathological liar often comes across as being manipulative, cunning and self-centered.

Compulsive Liar

A compulsive liar is defined as someone who lies out of habit. Lying is their normal and reflexive way of responding to questions. Compulsive liars bend the truth about everything, large and small. For a compulsive liar, telling the truth is very awkward and uncomfortable while lying feels right. Compulsive lying is usually thought to develop in early childhood, due to being placed in an environment where lying was necessary. For the most part, compulsive liars are not overly manipulative and cunning (see, Pathological Liar), rather they simply lie out of habit - an automatic response which is hard to break and one that takes its toll on a relationship (see, how to cope with a compulsive liar).

Ok, so here's my thoughts.  Each one being questioned at today's hearings are Compulsive Pathological Liars.  It's a combo of both.  For them it's goal-oriented greed driven, with little regard or respect for the rights and feelings of other as well as it's out of habit because telling the truth is awkward and uncomfortable while lying feels right.  And I don't even have a degree but I'm pretty sure I've diagnosed them just with my high school education.  I suppose this could be a diagnosis of all of Congress as well, kick in the Feds and the Treasury and you've got an entire system made up of Compulsive Pathological Liars who are still running this country right in to the big black hole that most of us have come to regard as our Daily Life.

So thanks again Congress for the Dog and Pony Show, I didn't have the money to buy a ticket to fly out and see if I could get a front row seat but I am thankful for being able to afford my crappy ass Internet connection to follow this mockery of proposed justice.  What sucks for me is there isn't any cotton candy or hot butter popcorn for me to munch on since I'm flat ass broke because of this financial mess since its taking all I have to put decent food on the table, keep the heat and electric on for my children and put gas in the car for the husband to go to his job.  But i reckon I'm lucky I can't afford the cotton candy and popcorn because I'm on the verge of evacuating the contents of my stomach just from following this show and it would just have been a waste of a good dollar.

What I'd like to know is where's the midget that should be sitting in Jamie Dimon's lap just like the one that was on JP Morgan Jr.'s lap at the 1933 Pecora Investigation by the Senate and Banking Committee.  Now that would make it a complete Dog and Pony Show and that's funny shit right there I don't care who you are or what you think, politically correct or not, it's still funny shit.

I've about had it with getting screwed by banks and watching while they continue to pick our pockets without even showing us the respect of being sneaky about it. In addition, this all happens while Congress not only sits and watches, but applauds and rewards their behavior.

I refuse to be ripped off and my only recourse is to not pay. While there have been smatterings of protests and outrage from Arianna Huffington and the Move your Money Movement, Marcy Kaptur telling homeowners to squat in their homes, Ben Pavone threatening to sue Bank of America, and Ann Minch's Debtors Revolt, has anything really happened to improve our situation or even have an effect on people?

The response to this outcry and prodding has been underwhelming. According to one article, The Move Your Money Movement has 8,000 Facebook fans. Eight thousand people who are outraged and ready to do something about bank fees and blatant theft. That's a pretty low turn out compared to over 5 million people joining "We Will Not Pay To Use Facebook" based on an unfounded rumor.

It's too easy for big banks to ignore the whining of a few thousand on Facebook. Moving your money to community banks and credit unions is a good start, but we also need to reclaim our right to equitable treatment and refuse to ignore the absurd fees and dismal customer treatment from the major banks.

My wife and I made it through mortgage negotiations with our bank recently, the three month trial period is over, and we have been approved for a permanent modification. This was not without considerable effort and pain that lasted over 15 months. We were interviewed, scammed, protested, and blogged about it.

We made the third of our modified trial payments before Christmas for the January due date. Today we received a letter from Ocwen that included $120 in late fees and a charge for a "drive by appraisal" of $109. When we asked about the charges, Jennifer Levy Ocwen Bank Loan Workout Specialist responded by e-mail with, "Unfortunately, these are questions I can not answer. You may submit a research request in writing to 407-737-6375. Thank you". A FAX number.

I want to make it clear that when we bought our 1200 square foot home in 2006 we consulted with every loan officer, mortgage broker, and real estate professional we knew and despite having money for a down payment, based on their professional advice, ended up with a 100 percent financed, no money down, above prime, adjustable rate loan.

I specified "above prime" because I'm anticipating the sanctimonious and anonymous cowardly comments to come. The ones that call me a leech, an idiot and ignorant. And ignorant I was, but I trusted professionals who worked for banks and sold homes for a living to advise me. Much in the same way that I trusted my cardiologist and surgeon when I had open heart surgery two years ago. I'm all about personal responsibility, but everything has its limit. In addition our modification was done internally by our servicer, so no tax dollars were involved or spent.

We originally reached out in September of 2008 (before the Making Home Affordable or HAMP was available) to government organizations like Hope Now, where Diana Esquerra of Nova Debt told us we were the reason the economy was in the state it was in and that we didn't deserve a home due to our irresponsibility; she also noted that we could afford the payment at 9.5% interest rate if we "cut the fat" off our expenses eliminating "basic cable, cell phones, and cars" and she further advised us to lower our heat to reduce our gas bill and spend less on food. As a final act, Ms Esquerra reported her findings to the mortgage servicer, Ocwen.

Our Massachusetts Representatives, Senators, and Attorney General's office were for the most part useless, unhelpful, and generally unsympathetic. One of them actually left a half hearted messages on our voice mail, saying, "I didn't realize you required or expected some kind of action on it."

Consequentially watching the rest of them, as they handle regulation and executive salary in a manner befitting kindergartners is of no surprise.

People are still losing their homes, jobs, and dignity. The bank's response to the growing economic troubles, rising delinquencies, and miniscule threat of regulation? Raising fees. What could make more sense than that?

A colleague of mine bought a washer/dryer at Sears last month. When he pulled out the cash they offered him a 15 percent discount if he put it on his card. At the end of the month he received the bill with 27 percent interest. He's had the card for forty years.

As a result of our mortgage debacle, the credit card companies, despite being paid on time every month, decided to join the fray and jacked our interest rates to 29 percent across the board. When I called to ask why the interest had been raised, Josh at Chase told me, "Because we can."

So, I stopped paying. Because I can.

Our credit card debt is significantly lower than our share of the bailout and had we not been hit with arbitrary charges that led to more arbitrary charges we would have paid off the small amounts a long time ago. I have no need for a FICO score. We have a roof over our heads for now, transportation, I have a job and my wife is looking, and we have no need for credit cards. We pay our bills and do the right thing, but refuse to be taken advantage of by a company that won't answer their phone, charges interest rates that would make a loan shark blush, and can't provide me with an itemized statement of my charges.

When people like Arianna Huffington, Marcy Kaptur, University of Arizona law professor Brent White, who suggests that people walk away from bad mortgages, come together for a call to action, surely they mean to elicit more of a response than 7,000 Facebook fans.

I refuse to pay. Perhaps you should too.