Clark gets a huge number of calls from listeners who have had serious problems with their mortgage lender. Lenders have been known to mess up loan balances and to fail to pay taxes on time and sometimes not at all. As a result, a homeowner’s insurance can be cancelled and the homeowner has to buy ultra expensive insurance because no one wants him or her as a customer. Then, when people try to sue them for fouling up, it’s not possible because, according to their documents, lenders only allow “arbitration” as a way to resolve disputes. And the arbitration process is fixed in favor of the lender nearly every time. But all that is about to change. Because of the incredible numbers of abuses, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are taking a stand and are saying that they won’t allow any lender writing loans for them to require mandatory arbitration. They will no longer be able to refer disputes to a third party arbitrator, and it’s about time! Clark doesn’t object to arbitration or mediation. Alternative dispute resolution, in general, is a great thing. But it should be the choice of both parties to go, and each party gets to decide whom they will use. Banks have been the greatest abusers of the arbitration system. One of the nation’s largest banks won arbitration 99.9 percent of the time. Now, that is ridiculous! It’s cynical, abusive and wrong. And now it won’t be allowed for nearly all mortgage loans written in the country. Clark saw information recently about how the public feels toward mortgage lenders. The industry received one of the lowest scores ever reported in the history of surveying customer satisfaction. So, let’s hope this knocks some sense into lenders’ heads.