Inspired by the activism of the people of Wisconsin to defend collective bargaining, and by the judgment won by Patrick Rodgers against Wells Fargo, I begin to wonder if it's time to form "Mortgage Unions" as a way to protect the rights of the home-owner.
The idea is simple enough: Mortgage holders (whether in trouble or not) organize together, then elect representatives to speak to the lenders on behalf of their interests. Should a lender fail to bargain in good faith, the union would hold a "mortgage strike". During this strike, no one holding a mortgage to that lender pays their payments.
It's one thing for a few individuals to stop paying their mortgages here and there; the banks can ride them out. But what if a few thousand mortgagers stopped paying simultaneously? As they say in the finance industry, "If you borrow $10,000, the bank owns you. If you borrow $10,000,000, you own the bank."
The big lenders have been running roughshod over borrowers because they know they can. No one person can stand for their rights against these institutions. A union representative could speak with far more authority to stop fraudulent foreclosure actions and negotiate easements for homeowners who are in trouble.