Mortgage Mod Hell: Trapped Between Lenders, Collectors

Kate Hanni is no stranger to public advocacy. After she was trapped in a plane on the tarmac for more than nine hours, she formed Flyers Rights, the largest nonprofit advocacy group for airline passengers' rights. The result was the passage of the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights and the three-hour tarmac-delay limit for the flying public.

Now Hanni -- who blogged about her experience for The Huffington Post -- is standing up for another cause that affects her personally: the housing crisis. This time, instead of an airplane, she's trapped in mortgage modification hell. Her complaint? Lenders won't talk to you unless you are behind in your payments, and then once you are, their debt collectors start harassing you with calls asking when you expect to pay up.