How would you like to have a total compensation package of $2,273,562 and a total number of 5,635,194 in stock options? According to Forbes, this is what William Erbey, CEO of Ocwen, a loan servicing business, earned in 2008.

I've learned a lot about Ocwen while sitting on the phone for countless hours hoping to get through to a person who could help. Many of the people I speak to are from India. I learned that once upon a time Ocwen leased three high-rise towers in West Palm Beach but now leases only a fraction of this, as they send so many jobs to India.

In fact, on Yahoo right now are a number of call center jobs in India requiring no experience. Yet, these call center intake personnel handle complex loan packages, appraisals and the fate of many homeowners. While the elevator music plays endlessly in the background, I repeatedly hear, "Please be advised that Ocwen is a debt collector."

I'm on the phone to help out a listing agent who is on vacation. I'm trying to help her seller, whom I met while showing her property. As I toured the property, she sat quietly weeping on the patio, still in her maid's uniform from a nearby hotel. A number of other single mothers and their children resided in this clean house. Hardly anyone spoke coherent English.

How in the world did this woman get a loan to purchase a house at the peak of the market for $583,000? Actually, she got two loans, one from Ocwen and a second from GMAC.

The situation is dire. By the time this Spanish-speaking maid realized she couldn't make her monthly mortgage payments to Ocwen for $3,500 at a rate of 6.99 percent, she went underground. She didn't reach out for help because she was afraid to. She hadn't filed her income taxes because she had no money left to have someone help her understand how to file them. If she was to get a loan modification, she needed her income tax statement. Without a loan modification package, she couldn't stop foreclosure proceedings.

By the time she hired a listing agent to help her, a NOD, or notice of default, had been filed on the property starting foreclosure proceedings.

Nonetheless, the listing agent found a buyer who offered a reasonable price. She quickly helped the maid get her short-sale package together along with her hardship letter. According to a local debt relief manager, if a seller attempts to short-sale a property, it's considered a responsible management of debt as opposed to a foreclosure on the property. It's not nearly the ding on one's credit as a foreclosure.

On Ocwen's Web site is this cheery little message: "President Obama's Administration recently announced the requirements to modify eligible mortgages under the Making Homes Affordable Program. Ocwen has been working diligently to ensure that our customers who are having trouble making their mortgage payments are assisted in the best way because HELPING HOMEOWNERS IS WHAT WE DO!™"

So, why did they take the time to trademark this statement about helping homeowners if I can't get them to extend the foreclosure date by four weeks? I was on the phone for hours. I asked to speak to supervisors and then to managers. Each time the hold was about 30 minutes. Each time I was told the same thing: "Ocwen does not extend the sale date."

"Other lenders do," I persisted. I know because I've worked with them. As long as you have a buyer and an appraisal to support what the buyer would offer, they extend to unload the property.

"We'd rather take the tax credit," said one.

"Think of the cost you'll save by not foreclosing," I said. Foreclosures cost about $50,000 to $100,000 in legal fees. While the property goes through these proceedings, it sits vacant for a period of time. Do you think the neighbors like to see dying landscapes?

"We don't care about those costs," said another.

I got off the phone and spoke to Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey's office and Sen. Barbara Boxer's office. One said the seller has to call, we can't help you as the Realtor. Another said, "We can't interfere in a business's private practice. Have the seller get an attorney." Do you really think this seller will do that?

However, we can bail out these lenders who made these loans in the first place! Why don't we regulate their practices, insist they hire American unemployed real estate professionals, close the tax credit loophole and insist they short-sale as opposed to foreclosing, since they were the ones to give these loans to begin with? I would go so far as to say this was fraud to give this maid these loans in the first place. Why hasn't anyone already thought of this?

I found an ombudsman from the Ocwen Web site who promised to be an advocate for the homeowner. I left a message and never heard back. The many managers I left messages with never called back either.

I called GMAC, because as the junior lienholder, a foreclosure would wipe them out. "Can't you call Ocwen and get them to extend the foreclosure date so we can conclude this sale?" I asked.

"No."

The seller was foreclosed upon.

Today, Ocwen's stock rose 0.44 percent.

Margaret Kapranos is a realtor with Frank Howard Allen.

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